Everything Changes - Original
by PerditusFic
Summary: On their trip to find Robin, Regina and Emma run into a five-year-old child in need of help. Returning to Storybrooke without Robin, the two of them have to readjust to life with a new child to co-parent while also trying to discover the true depths of their own relationship. (Slow-Burn)
1. Chapter 1

**This is the original version of Everything Changes. For those of you who did not read this version the first time, I was met with a lot of backlash for the slow-burn and decided to discontinue write this version which has led to the revised story now being posted.**

 **Due to demand I've decided to put this back up.**

 **(Warning: It won't have an ending. This version has been abandoned.)**

* * *

"Emma!" She froze and the man darted away from them. She cursed under breath. "Emma…are you okay?"

Instead of getting a verbal reply from Emma, Regina watched helplessly as the savior let her anger out on wall ahead of her. Her fist slammed into the cheap plaster and broke it. A white, dust like substance flew out towards them. Emma didn't flinch but Regina took a step back waving her hand in front of her face with a look of disgust.

"I don't even want to know what was in that wall." Regina coughed, scrunching up her nose at the bitter smell. Emma didn't respond with a joke like she expected. "Swan."

"I'm fine." She held her hand, rubbing her throbbing knuckles as she stared into the hole she'd made. "Let's just go."

She walked off, disappearing down the hall faster than Regina thought possible considering she could normally outpace the younger woman in a crisis in four inch heels if she wanted. She turned, throwing another disapproving look to the building and walked after her. She only caught wisps of blonde hair cutting corners until she was out on the street.

Emma was already across the street by the time she step out into the daylight and Regina grimaced at her.

"Miss Swan-" She grunted and stumbled to the side before catching herself. Wondering what had hit her, she looked down to big, brown eyes staring back up at her. A little girl probably no older than six years old if not younger.

Before she could voice anything, a disgruntled shout flew in her direction and she looked up to a fuming man stomping up the practically empty sidewalk. "Hey! Come here you little shit!" The little girl hid behind her, not letting go of her coat for even a moment as she did.

Regina frown at him in his navy blue cargo pants and grease stained white shirt. Her eyes fell away from him, feeling the grip of the tiny hand tightening on her coat. She peered around herself to see her cowering in fear.

Without hesitation, Regina quirked an eyebrow at him. He narrowed his eyes back at her. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"My…uh…daughter there…"

"Your daughter?" Regina's suspicion increased at the way he'd said the word daughter. Like he had to think about it.

"Yeah, lady. My daughter." His response was clipped and laced with annoyance. He looked behind her to the little girl peeking out from behind her. "Get over here. _Now_."

"No."

His beady, blue eyes snapped to the older woman and lifted the corner of his lips in abhorrence. "You got a problem, lady? I am her father and you're going to give her to me."

"You're not my daddy!" A small voice inserted with a tremble. The man's stance changed and he started to march forward.

Regina defensively took a step back and directed her next question to the child seeking out her protection. "Sweetheart, is he your father?" She received a headshake and a mumbled answer. She couldn't quite make out what was said at first but she was almost certain the girl had said the words _'he hit me'_ and she immediately refused any thought to release the child to him.

"Don't make an enemy out of me, lady." A distinct wave of vodka overwhelmed Regina's sense. "She has an overactive imagination. Give her to me."

"I don't think so."

"Excuse me?"

"She was running away from you and from what I've seen it was for good reason."

There were very few people out and only a few of them had noticed the scene happening. Only half of them even looked to care.

It wasn't simply just a hyper, misbehaving child running around with her father chasing after her. He looked suspicious enough and just from his appearance no one in their right mind would let him take the little girl. Her reluctance and fear was enough to suggest there was more than just bad parenting going on.

"You really think you can take me?" He breathed into her face and laughed.

"I know I can." Regina knew the voice and internally cringed thinking Emma was holding this much anger in her. She then visibly cringed hearing bone crack against her fist as she blindsided the man, appearing out of nowhere, with a punch.

They tussled until Emma managed to land another punch to his face. He hunched over with a groan, stumbling backwards and holding out a hand in somewhat of a surrender to prevent her from throwing another crippling fist.

"You're not fucking worth this shit." His eyes connected with the child's and he stood up straight holding his bleeding nose. He looked over to Regina and then threw a death glare at Emma. "I see you again…I'm going to beat the shit out of you…fucking dyke." He turned on his heel and stormed away grumbling curses and slurs towards Emma that offended Regina more than it did herself.

"Should we call the authorities…?" Regina exhaled in relief but hated he'd used so much foul language in front of the child.

"No. He'll keep it quiet considering he didn't threaten us with calling the cops. He's into some shady stuff, I'll bet." Regina nodded, accepting the explanation without protest even though she wanted to scold the woman for once again not resisting her urge to put her fist through something - or someone in this case. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Regina gave a small smile, putting her hand to Emma's upper arm. "Thank you."

She glanced to the younger woman's reddening knuckles. She quickly decided to ask about it later and turned to the little girl looking at Emma with almost a grateful expression. Regina squatted down in front of her and eyed the black shirt with gold stars on it and gray jeans. Her clothes said enough about how the man cared for her. The shirt was visibly worn with a hole torn in the elbow and it looked to be a size too big. Her jeans held rips and tears in them over both the knees and around her calves.

"Are you okay, little one?" Regina asked. Emma just folded her arms watching the interaction.

"I'm not little."

"Okay, then." Both women found themselves amused by the little girl. "What's your name?"

"I'm not a'posed to talk to strangers."

Regina didn't actually know how to respond to that. The child was absolutely right but she had to talk to them so they could help her. "Yes, you're right but you have to talk to me so I can help you."

"How old are you, kid?" Emma questioned. The little brunette held up all the fingers on her right hand and it practically melted Regina. Henry had done that when he was five too. "Regina we have to go after Robin."

Regina hated to admit that she felt slightly less like going after the man, especially since Emma was out here trying to help her. Although, the girl quite literally ran into her and stole all of her attention. "We can't just leave her here, Emma."

"I know that, but-"

Fear flashed in the child's eyes and she grabbed the sleeve of Regina's coat. "Don't leave."

"We're not going to leave you, honey." Regina glanced over to Emma with a knowing look and a raised eyebrow. "Emma?"

"Look, she can come with us, I guess…but later we have to take her somewhere." Emma shook her head as if she didn't want to continue the conversation anymore.

"Fine." Regina sighed and turned back to the little girl. "You're going to come with us until we figure out where you can go, okay?"

"I don't wanna go back there again."

"You won't. I promise."

"Well, keep up then." Emma interrupted, walking over to her car a few feet away. Regina held back her grimace at her uncaring tone. Obviously, her clipped tone was uncalled for but after the incident in the rundown apartment building, learning her friend was gone probably more than likely had her upset and pissed.

"Come along, dear." Regina said and held out her hand for the little brunette to take. After a moment's hesitation, the girl slipped her small hand into hers.

* * *

Thirty minutes into the drive, Regina tried to avoid questioning Emma about her hand or her emotions but everything was hard to avoid in pure silence. "You want to talk about what happened back there?"

"Don't know what you mean." Emma said staring straight ahead at the road.

"Back at the apartments? With the tenant and then with that man?"

"No, I don't want to talk about it."

"Emma-"

"Regina. Drop it."

"Will you at least tell me how your hand is? You punched a hole in the wall and practically punched a hole in that man as well."

"It's fine."

Regina eyed the broken skin showing as her hands gripped the steering will tightly. "You're lying."

"Will you just let it go? I don't want to talk about it."

Regina leaned back in her seat, complying with Emma's request. She directed her eyes to the child in the back seat. There was something about her that reminded her of Emma. Maybe it was the defiance that reflected in brown eyes. She didn't want to think about the obvious reason: the girl was a foster child. An orphan even.

There were also many other things that interested her, though her mind had way too much to think about and adding the mystery of the girl wasn't going to help her sort out anything. So instead she just focused on her features. Brown hair and deep hazel eyes that held a heavy dose of uncertainty and mistrust in her surroundings. Her fitted jeans clung to her small frame and not in a good way.

"I need to get an aspirin." Emma announced pulling over to a small diner next to a gas station. Regina blinked back into reality and turned away from the rearview mirror to Emma.

"That's fine with me. I need coffee. It's been a long day already." Regina replied, following her out and helping their new companion out. She stayed silent, surprisingly. No protests. No complaints. She just willingly followed wherever Regina led her and she held onto Regina's hand as they walked inside.

"What can I get you?" The brunette at the counter asked.

"Two packs of aspirin and a coffee." Emma reached for her wallet when a soft hand against her elbow stopped her. She glanced to Regina who directed her eyes to the girl staring intently at an elderly couple eating their food with hushed conversation. She sighed, this time not in annoyance to the child, and turned back to the counter. "Uh, make that three packs of aspirin, a coffee, whatever juice you have, and the biggest sandwich you got."

"To go?"

"For here."

"It'll be out to you in about three minutes. Take a seat wherever you like."

She gave Emma the total and she proceeded to pay while Regina found a place to sit. Emma joined them shortly casting unreadable glances over at the child next to her. Surprisingly, the girl returned the glare. Regina leaned forward. "You don't have to glare at her."

"I can't help it. It's my face, Regina."

"Sure, it is. I know you're face, Miss Swan. That's not it." Regina deadpanned.

"I don't need your shit, Regina."

"Here you are." The waitress said sitting down the coffee and aspirin on the table. Then noticing the way the girl looked at the food on the plate in her hand, she sat the sandwich and the cup of juice in front of her. As she moved her arm across the table Emma could've sworn she'd seen something but shook it off and just reached out for the aspirin.

Regina tilted the tip of the mug to her lips before catching the curious look of the child next to her. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have moneys."

"You don't have to pay for anything."

"Really?"

"Yes, it's all yours."

The girl looked to the sandwich in amazement. It was bigger than her but she still picked up one half and bit into it eagerly. Regina smiled at her softly, going back to her coffee. Emma downed three aspirins before propping her head up in her hand and watching the thirty-pound child devour the half a sandwich and drain the juice in under five minutes. She stopped every moment she felt Regina about to tell her to be neater while she ate.

The girl tugged on Regina's sleeve shortly after and the older woman looked down at her. "Hm?"

"Maddox." The girl said with a mouthful of food.

Regina and Emma looked at her questioningly. The older woman was the first to speak. "What was that dear?"

"My name."

"Maddox?" Emma asked skeptically and received another glare from the little girl.

"I think it's a beautiful name." Regina said, none too nicely kicking Emma under the table. She let out a sharp grunt and clutched her leg, casting a grimace over to the woman across from her.

"More coffee?" The waitress came back holding the pot. Regina nodded shortly and Emma's eyes instantly shot to the woman's wrist. Her eyes stayed glued to the star on her arm and then slowly trailed up to the woman's face. She clenched her jaw as the waitress walked away.

"Regina, it's her."

"Who?" Regina frowned.

"Lily." Emma said watching the woman head for the back. She stood up and started to walk away until a hand latched onto her wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to her. Watch the kid."

"What else do you expect me to do…" Regina mumbled, leaning back in her seat and watching Emma exit the building.

* * *

"Starla, is it?" Emma questioned walking through the door. The brunette stood up to face her quickly. Emma thought she might have remembered her, even just a little part. Nothing.

"Is something wrong? Did I bring you guys decaf by mistake? I'm so sorry. I always get the pots mixed up."

Emma shook her head. "Starla isn't your name is it? Lily."

"How do you know that?"

"This mark." Emma said cautiously reaching out to turn over her old friend's wrist. "You showed it to me a long time ago outside a crappy Cub Foods in Hopkins, Minnesota."

"Emma?" Lily questioned in shock.

"I thought you were dead. What the hell happened to you?"

"I got into…trouble with some bad people a couple years ago, and I needed a fresh start. But I've been careful. How did you find me?"

"Fate?" Emma responded sounding uncertain.

"What?" Lily frowned.

"I know this is gonna to sound crazy, but remember when we were kids, you used to say you and I were connected? Like something was drawing us together?"

"Yeah, that's something teenage girls say, and then you braid each other's hair and become BFFs."

"What if you were right though? What if there's a reason your life has been on a downswing ever since we met? That all your problems are not your fault, they're…mine?"

"You're right, that sounds crazy."

"It's complicated, but I can explain it if you come with me. I just need you to trust me."

Lily backed away from Emma. "Look, I don't know what kind of 12-step program you're in, but I've moved on. I'm fine."

"You're living in the middle of nowhere under an assumed name. I can help you."

"I don't need your help. And my life is great, thank you very much. I have an awesome daughter and a loving husband. The last thing I need is for you to come into my life and just blow it apart again, so-" They both turned at the sounds of a school bus pulling up. "If you'll excuse me, that's my daughter's bus."

"I-I'm sorry for…well, everything." Emma said weakly.

"You don't need to apologize. We were kids. To be honest, I haven't even thought about you in years."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Lily nodded. Emma looked after her skeptically and watched the two interact. Something was up. Though, it was Lily. Not much of a surprise, really.

Regina walked over to her with Maddox quietly holding her hand. Her eyes followed the waitress. "So it was her."

Maddox looked over to the woman and the other girl before looking back over to Emma. She had no clue what they were up to. Hell, she even heard them say something about magic but there was something about them that made her feel safe.

"Well, Emma, looks like you didn't ruin her life after all."

"I'll be right back." Before Regina could ask what she was doing or where she was going, Emma disappeared back into the diner. Regina exchange a look with Maddox holding her hand and the child just smiled at her momentarily before picking at the big gold star in the middle of her shirt that was steadily peeling away.

Regina decided to return to the car and buckled Maddox into the back, silently worrying over just how unsafe it was a to have a five-year-old sitting in the backseat without a car seat. Her mind immediately went to getting Henry's out of the garage since surely the girl wouldn't mind it being Spiderman themed.

Then it suddenly occurred to her that she unconsciously was already preparing to provide a home for the girl. She didn't even ask her what she wanted. She was pretty certain it wasn't legal to just take a child back to Storybrooke even though she had a feeling there wasn't an adult in her life to miss her or even bother to worry what happened. Especially, not her seemingly habitually drunk foster father she had the displeasure of meeting.

Though her thoughts conflicted she wasn't just willing to leave the girl anywhere. Her mind wasn't even suggesting maybe it wasn't the best idea to just up and 'adopt' another child. Henry wouldn't mind, he mentioned the desire to be a big brother a few times.

Her thoughts were instantly interrupted by the slamming of the car door. She turned to her putting her seatbelt on. "Emma, what's going on?"

"I just swiped Starla's timecard. It had her real address."

"But she said she didn't want our help."

"And she was lying."

"You saw her with her child." Regina said as they pulled off.

"A child. You know me. I know when someone's lying, and she was. She always has. Why would she be any different now?" Regina sighed. "Something's wrong. We have to go find her. I'm gonna help her this time. I'm gonna get her back to her mom."

Emma came up with a plan the whole why there and it wasn't the best way to reveal the whole fairy tale thing but there's wasn't much time to ease into it. Meanwhile, Regina had drifted off to wondering about toys for Maddox, completely forgetting she hadn't actually adopted her.

"Maddox." The five year old was asleep, her chin dropped to her chest. She reached back and touched her knee and Maddox woke up with a frown. "I need you to stay here, okay?"

"You're gonna leave me?" Her eyes widened and tears were going to follow fast.

"No, sweetie. We need to go check on a friend. We'll be only five minutes."

"Regina, come on." Emma called, standing at the door already.

"Five minutes." Regina repeated and asked her to watch her bag for reassurance. Maddox nodded obediently.

Just as she stepped up to the trailer door, Emma was already swinging the door open. Regina tried not to sigh at how right Emma was about Lily. Shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"No kid stuff. No husband." Emma said searching around the room before walking down the narrow hall.

"Okay. If you want me to admit you were right…" Regina arched her eyebrow at the living arrangement. "Well, you were right."

"Can't blame her for running off. I was about to tell her she was Maleficent's daughter."

"Definitely would've been hard to swallow."

"Well, you know how long it took me to believe, and that was in Storybrooke. For her, it's not gonna be simple."

Regina was about to agree again when she spotted a particularly interesting and very unsettling sight. "Emma."

"What?"

"It might be simpler than you think."

They stared speechless at the wall, mapping out every clue Lily already found out about the exact thing Emma was there to convince her of. A map with question marks about Storybrooke. Pictures cut from old books. Of all the things she was expecting, this wasn't nearly it.

"Son of a…dammit! She knew. She already fucking knew."

Regina stepped forward at the picture of the very familiar looking girl. Blonde hair, green eyes. Emma Swan. Now wasn't the time ask her about her childhood but the urge sprung up on her. Regina bit her tongue. "She was looking for you."

"No…my parents. She knew everything. She wants revenge." A scream ripped through the air from outside, followed by the sound of a car engine starting. "Really?!" Emma growled heading for the door. "Lily!"

"Maddox is still in the car." Regina started to follow her outside but she hesitated not even for a second and pulled the picture of Emma down from the corkboard before leaving off quickly behind Emma, tucking the picture into her pocket.

They both watch the car pull away with a terrified five-year-old held hostage in the back. Regina clenched her jaw and her fists knowing how many problems for occurred. "Emma, Maddox has my bag. The scroll was inside."

"Lily wanted a way to Storybrooke. She just got one." Emma glanced over to the car still parked nearly the trailer. She marched over the tool box and grabbed a wrench.

Regina frowned finding that she'd been asking her the same question quite often. "What are you doing?"

"That girl destroyed my life with one family I'm not letting her do it again and we obviously need to get the kid back." At the lack of protest Emma proceeded to smash the window in of the souped up Chevelle.

Not too soon after using some skills Regina wasn't sure she wanted to know where her friend learned them, they were both flying after the stolen bug. It felt like seconds and they were already on extremely open road not a single other car in sight except the one they were chasing.

"There she is." Regina said to assure herself. Emma shifted gears and sped forward. It actually surprised Regina how quickly they ended up bumper to bumper. The Chevelle pulled up next to the Bug and Regina's eyes immediately shot to the child cowering in the back seat.

"Regina." Emma stared Lily down from the driver's seat. "If you don't have your seatbelt on, you might want to do that now." Regina didn't question it but kept her eyes trained on the back window of Emma's car.

Though Emma was no stunt driver she tried the only move she knew to stop the chase from going any further. She sped ahead and jerked the wheel completely left, swinging the car around stopping right in front of her Bug that came to an abrupt stop.

Lily emerged from the car and started to walk in the opposite direction with Emma on her heels.

"You know. You know everything. Did you know when we were kids?" Emma questioned.

"Of course not."

"And now?"

"Yeah. I learned it all."

"How?"

"Does it really matter? It doesn't change anything. You screwed me over before we were even born."

"I had no more say in what happened than you did."

Regina kept an eye on the confrontation as she walked over to the car to get Maddox out. She had her hand on the door and pulled it open.

"But your parents did. And the minute I get to Storybrooke-"

"You lay a hand on them, I end you!" Emma shoved Lily back to the ground on her hands.

Regina ducked out of the car after having pulled the seat up. Maddox was curled into herself and hadn't noticed that the car stopped or that Regina had been inches away from her. She turned back to the two women and she knew Emma was about to use her tired hand to punch yet another person. "Emma. Stop."

"Yeah." Lily got to her feet, brushing her palms against her pants. "And how are you gonna do that without you magic, Savior?"

Her fist collided with Emma's jaw and Regina suddenly felt a strong protectiveness come over her. A tingling sensation engulfed her clenched fists and she looked into her palm in confusion. She thought of the possibility of having her magic outside of town. Thunder clapped over them and the shattering of the Bug's headlights, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Your parents are monsters, Emma. They banished me and threw you in a wardrobe. And now here you are, ready to die for them, because you're so perfect. The Savior. Well, they deserve to be punished. And there's only one way to stop me, and you know it."

A short struggle followed the threat and Regina couldn't even blink before Lily was thrown to the ground again with Emma holding a gun over her.

That was the last thing she expected to see from Emma Swan. Ever. Even after what happened to Henry with the turnover. After figuring out that the curse was real, Emma never once had reached this point. This was with the Evil Queen who spent years trying to get rid of her parents. Lily was a former friend and now a gun was pointed at her head. Regina was worrying maybe Gold was actually right about changing Emma.

"Of course it ends this way. This just makes too much sense." Lily said.

"I'm just trying to stop you from doing something you'll regret."

"You can't. Thanks to you, I'm hardwired for bad decisions. So come on…just put me out of my misery. You know the truth. We both know my life isn't worth saving. And if you let me go, I will destroy everything. It's what I do. So come on…be the hero and end this right here before it even starts."

Emma and Regina watched her raise her hands in mock surrender. "Come on, Emma."

"Swan. Put the gun down." Emma shifted her eyes over to Regina before bring them back down to Lily. "If you pull that trigger, you will be the one who ruins your life this time. And Henry's and your parents' and everyone else's."

"I have to protect them." Emma defended, refusing to look at the older woman.

"Then lower the gun. Your parents need a hero, not a murderer."

"I'm already a murderer."

"Cruella was an accident. But if you cross this line, the journey back isn't easy. Trust me… _I know_. This is what Gold wants you to do. So don't." Emma still hadn't moved and maybe it was safe to say that it was a good that she hadn't put a bullet in anyone. The safest place that gun could be was in its holster or just away from Emma altogether. The woman was just having a terrible day so far.

"Emma-" A body collided with her legs and she stopped talking. Maddox was holding on tightly to her legs like it was key to her survival. Regina stroked her hands through her hair comfortingly. "It's alright, little one."

Emma's eyes fell to the child and her grip on the gun loosened. Regina noticed as she picked up the girl finding her surprisingly lighter than she probably should've been but she still grunted slightly since she hadn't picked up a child in a long time. Emma looked at Maddox and then to Lily and then over to Regina who looked at her with concern and, well, _love_ , that only Regina Mills could show her.

"Emma, you're better than this."

* * *

Regina glanced to Emma as she talked with Lily. They were being civil and it was a relief but it didn't mean she wasn't worried about another burst of murderous rage. She turned back to Maddox who had calmed down marginally.

She smiled down at her as she sat in the passenger's seat of Emma's car. "I think you and I should talk."

"Why?"

"I want you to tell me about you."

"I don't wanna." Maddox folded her arms.

"I've kept my promises to you, dear. I think you owe me something."

"Okay…"

"Do you have anywhere you can go?"

"No. I don't wanna go back." Hazel eyes began to look frantic and Regina placed her hand in Maddox's hair. It calmed her earlier and it worked again. Her shoulders slumped and her arms uncrossed but the pout on her lips stayed.

"I'm not taking you back."

"You wanna leave me."

"That's the last thing I want to do, Maddox. Try to listen to me okay?" She nodded meekly, still leaning into Regina's touch. "I want to know if you'd like to come home with me."

"Home?"

"I'd like you to come live me, Maddox. You'll be safe and you won't be alone. I'll take care of you." The five-year-old latched onto her every word and thought about her words for only a minute before she replied in an eager nod with the biggest smile. It was infectious and Regina smiled back down at her. She wanted to talk about Henry and the mansion but her phone rang with a call she didn't want.

Maddox looked after her pacing in a line and then over to the two women talking.

"Why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance?" Lily questioned. "I would have."

"I like to think you wouldn't have."

"Isn't that the whole point of Savior and Anti-Savior?"

"Stop calling yourself that."

"Em-"

"Lily, you're not the worst. I've met people with a bad past and probably not the best future ahead of them. Sometimes being the hero means you have to give them a chance. One of the worst, evil…heartbroken turned out to be the best friend I've ever had." Emma glanced over to Regina on the phone with small smile. Lily looked over and then back to Emma. "You're still my friend and you deserve a second chance."

Regina called over before she could voice a response. "Bad news from home. I just lost my leverage over Gold. We have to get Robin Hood…now." Emma tilted her head at tone in her voice. She didn't sound as willing or determined as she had before they left Storybrooke. Even then she didn't sound like someone who had to save their lover. Far from it actually. More annoyed than anything.

She turned to Lily. "Coming?"

"You still want me to?"

"Yeah. It could be a bad decision but I'm not pushing you away this time."

* * *

The three of them stood off to the side as Regina walked to the door. Emma and Maddox were reluctant to be holding hands but per Regina's orders they were stuck together as the older woman definitely didn't trust Lily with a paperclip at this point. Maddox glared up at Emma for calling her the new sass queen before turning to watch Regina.

"Robin?" Regina knocked on the door with a frown etched into her face. "Robin, open up!" The door swung open and the man appeared in the doorway immediately. He looked shocked. It wasn't a pleasant surprise kind of shocked, it was something else but Regina didn't seem to notice.

"Regina? W-what are you doing here?"

Regina pulled him into a half hearted hug but Emma could tell he was being just as half hearted as she was and it made her nervous. Although she didn't protest when he did.

"What's going on? W-why are you here?" He questioned pulling away. Emma and Lily exchanged a look, wondering why he hadn't expressed how much he missed her or something.

"I can explain everything. But first, where's Marian?"

"Marian…" Robin said almost like a question. Emma narrowed her eyes as they followed the pair inside. Robin looked over to Maddox and frowned before turning back to Regina. "She's not here. Why?"

"Good. Then there's time but we have to act fast."

"Wha-What's this about?"

"Marian…we have to leave before she gets back. She is not who she says she is."

"What are you talking about?"

"She's…my sister…Zelena."

"The wicked witch? But she's dead. W-we all saw that."

"Somehow, she tricked us and went back in time. Robin…She went back, and she killed Marian. She took her place to get back at me."

"No. This is madness."

Every bit of his behavior fell into place for Emma. The last thing she wanted to be was right this time. She wanted nothing more than to be wrong for the sake of her friend's happiness.

"Robin, what's going on? And what is she doing here?" Marian questioned appearing in the doorway and walking over to him. Robin visibly relaxed at the sight of her. Obviously Emma wasn't the only one who sensed something wrong as Maddox had a vice grip on her leg now and she was frowning intensely at Marian.

"It's over Zelena." Regina growled. "I told him everything."

"Regina…" Emma inserted in warning.

"Not now, Emma."

"Regina, you're scaring…Marian." Robin frowned.

"Good. Where's the magic? You must have brought something to make this glamour work. Where is it, Zelena? Show me, or I will rip you apart until I find it!"

"Regina, that's enough!" Robin said pulling Marian closer. "Look, I know that this is hard…for all of us. But this is the new reality. I'm with her, I'm with-"

"Regina." Emma tried again.

"What?!" Regina asked in frustration. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry, Regina…" Emma cut her eyes Robin. "He knows. Don't you, Hood?"

"Regina-" He started.

"Don't spare her feelings." Marian, now abruptly Zelena, sneered with the pendant hanging from her fingers.

Regina stepped back, stunned and speechless. Emma felt Maddox tighten her grip on her leg and she put a hand on the girl's shoulder as her other hand formed into a pulsing fist. Robin reached for her hand and jerked away from him, pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

"How long have you known?"

"I…a week after she came back."

"Son of a bitch…" Emma muttered.

"If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't willing at first." Zelena cackled stroking his chest just to piss Regina off. "It took some coaxing…some seducing. He is quite the catch."

"I didn't mean for it to happen, it just did." Robin at least had the decency to look a little bit ashamed.

Regina didn't say anything. She worked her jaw tensely trying to hold down her anger. She ran a hand through her hair before turning on her heel and walking towards the door. She gave one glance back to Robin, a hurt expression flashing across her face before it disappeared behind her mask. Then she left the apartment without a thought. Maddox let go of Emma and went after her.

Robin paused for a moment before moving, as if he was going to go after her. Emma closed her fist tightly, ignoring the burning pain on her knuckles. Regina's flash of pain at this information came into her mind and with her eyes narrowed at the floor, she stepped in Robin's way. She lifted her eyes to his face and grabbed him by the throat forcing him sideways into the wall.

His nose snapped at the force of the punch she let off on him and he let out a cry of pain.

"You broke her heart. She trusted you with everything."

She was about to offer another blow to his face but was engulfed by strong arms pulling her backwards. She glanced over her shoulder to see Lily holding her back. Though she knew this was the best thing to happen now, she didn't let herself be pulled away easily. Emma fought against Lily.

"If I see either one of you again I'm going to put a bullet in your face! You fucking asshole!"


	2. Chapter 2

"I distinctly remember her telling you to stay here." Lily said, watching as Emma grabbed for her leather jacket without a thought to Regina's demands. "Something about not trusting me…? Remember that?"

"She has good reason for not trusting you. You did kidnap her." Emma gestured to Maddox staring into the tv screen. Guilt washed over Lily, remembering the terrified whimpering that came from the child when she finally escape the car and clambered onto Regina. Emma noticed her shamed expression and glanced over to Maddox. "Hey, kid. I'll be back, okay?"

Maddox gave a cautious look to the other brunette before nodding to Emma her reluctant approval and went back to her cartoons.

Lily stood up and touched Emma's arm as she started to leave out the door with a pleading look on her face. "You're leaving me with her?"

"Yeah why? She's not going to hurt you…at least I don't think she will. She is kind of a smaller version of Regina but..." Emma patted her on the shoulder. "You'll be fine."

"Emma-"

"Lily, we checked into a hotel so that if she's hungry, you just ask her what she wants and call room service. I'm sure she knows how to use a bathroom and the tv is entertainment until I get Regina back.

"Why do you have to get her back again?" Lily frowned. Emma glared at her. "Not like that. I meant, why do you have to go after her? Won't she come back herself?"

"Regina's my friend. I want to go make sure she's okay. Plus she doesn't know this city like I do. She could be lost." She shrugged, glancing down to her overly reddened knuckles. "Can you watch the kid or not?"

"Okay...okay..." Lily looked over her shoulder to Maddox and nodded more to herself than Emma. "I can watch her."

Emma nodded and opened the door but she was half way out when she stopped. "Oh, and if you're not here when we get back or you've done something to her, I will hunt you down and shoot you in the kneecaps. Got it?"

"Uh…" Lily frowned. "Yeah, I think I got it."

"Good. Thanks…for back there at the apartment, by the way. I probably would've regretted any other things I wanted to do to him."

"No problem. It was pretty intense to see you like that. That wasn't you. You would've been beating yourself up about something you would've done."

"I know so definitely thanks." Lily nodded. Emma smiled at her lightly. "I'm glad you're back."

Emma disappeared out the door and Lily turned to the girl sitting on the bed. She sat down next to her and received a warning side eye from the girl. The older brunette took a deep breath and looked down at her.

"I'm really sorry." Lily sighed, eyes connecting with suspicious brown orbs. "I had no idea you were in the back of the car."

"That was mean…really mean." Maddox mumbled.

"I know. I didn't want to be. I was just upset but I'm sorry."

"Are you really sorry?" She questioned with a threatening glare. Maybe Emma wasn't kidding about her being a smaller Regina Mills.

"I really am."

"Okay." Maddox nodded, accepting the apology and decided to hand the older woman the remote. "I don't like sharing the tv but you said sorry."

"No, you keep it. You can have whatever you want tonight. I owe you one."

* * *

"How did I know I'd find you in here?" Emma dropped down in the seat adjacent to the older woman at the end of the bar counter, gesturing to the bartender for what Regina was having. She smiled smugly over to Regina.

"I asked you to watch Maddox." The older woman sighed into her tumbler before tossing a glare over to Emma. "I don't trust that woman."

"I get it. You have every reason not to trust her but I promise you Lily knows I keep my word. I told her if she pulls any shit, I'm fucking shattering her kneecaps. No questions asked."

Regina watched her knock back her glass. "That doesn't sound very Savior-like, Emma."

"Cut the Savior crap, Regina. We both know I hate having to be all these things for people. I'm here because I want to be a good friend. I owe you that much."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If it hadn't been for me, Zelena never would've came back in the first place." She seemed to be reasoning it to herself more than Regina. "I fucked up I know. I still owe you a happy ending."

Regina steeled her jaw looking down the bottom of her glass. "I never thought I'd disagree with you more, Miss Swan."

"What?" Emma questioned in confusion.

"This would have happened eventually. Quite frankly, I appreciate that I could get it over with now. To be completely honest, I feel betrayed but I'm relieved to have all this off my shoulders."

"I don't think I understand."

"I lied."

"About what?"

"I wasn't in love with Robin. I was in love with the idea that I had a soulmate – that there was a chance I could have a happy ending. I'm such an idiot to think that life wouldn't kick me in the teeth again."

"I get that but you can still have a happy ending. Even I could've told you forest boy didn't deserve you."

"Why didn't you, Swan?"

"Because up until recently I felt like anything I said wouldn't help my case. I saved Marian, telling you that you can do better than Robin Hood would've pissed you off. You probably would have broken my neck...which I'd completely understand. I wanted to prove that I had your back."

"Well, you've proven that much. You're still an idiot though." She cracked a smile, meeting the emerald eyes staring back her. Emma gave her single nod, tipping her glass in Regina's direction before sitting it down. She glanced over her catching her hand movement and sighed at the sight. "Emma?"

"Yeah?" She looked up to her curiously.

"What did you do?"

"Huh?"

"What happened to your hand? It wasn't like that earlier."

"It's nothing." Emma mumbled, tucking the throbbing hand back into her sleeve. Regina reached out and grabbed it and Emma flinched from the pain. The older woman sighed and took her hand gently into hers immediately seeing the broken skin and severe bruising.

"Emma." Regina warned. "What did you do?"

"Okay, fine. I knocked Robin's lights out. He deserved that."

"I won't disagree with that but you didn't have to hurt yourself doing it. You've punched too many people today. I'll heal it when we get back to Storybrooke." Emma opened her mouth to protest and Regina took her glass into her hand, holding up a finger to stop her. "It's non-negotiable, Sheriff."

"All right, fine. Non-negotiable." She pulled her hand down into her lap and gave a weary smile. "So…"

"So?" Regina asked countered with a raise eyebrow.

"Maddox?"

Understanding the question, Regina nodded and took a sip from her drink. "She deserves a home."

"And you want to give that to her?"

"Yes. How can I do that?"

"Legally? It could take months...years. And depending how you look on paper out here in the world...maybe never. And if it is possible, there would have to be visits from a social worker." Regina's face creased in worry. Obviously, she wanted to bring Maddox with them now and she also didn't want anyone snooping through her home. "Look, Regina, being completely honest with you…unless she has some parents out there somewhere, there is no one who cares about her and it's the honest, cruel truth about the world."

"What do you suggest?"

Emma didn't answer right away and it made Regina unsure about how Emma would handle things like this. She had been in the system before. She figured Emma would be on her side on this one. Neither of them wanted to leave Maddox in the hands of someone who might take care of her.

"If she wants to be with you then there's nothing wrong with taking her to a place where she'll be loved. Maybe legally it could be wrong but there is no law on love. No regulations, restrictions, limitations on that." When Regina looked up from her glass she looked down into her own. "The law...government will just as easily take a kid from a loving home before they take them from a bad one."

"That's...terrible to hear." Regina said gently.

"It's the truth. But the law is law so, I'll help you with the legal stuff. Just worry about loving that kid because I know you can do it better than anyone."

Regina smiled softly at her. She placed her hand on Emma's arm gratefully. "Thank you, Emma."

* * *

Emma eyed the door handle carefully as she grabbed for the key card to the room. She swiped at the sensor and pushed the door open, turning her back to it and smirking at Regina standing behind her.

"Care to come inside, Madame Mayor?" She giggled, stumbling into the room clumsily. Regina rolled her eyes at her as she followed her inside. She tried to avoid the thought sneaking up on her that Emma Swan giggling was almost as cute as Maddox in all her five-year-old sassiness.

Her eyes fell to Lily asleep on the bed with Maddox sitting between her legs engrossed in the tv with an empty bowl of what she was sure used to be spaghetti in her lap. As much as Lily was on her bad side it seemed Maddox was taken with her even after being kidnapped earlier. But before she could think about how she would not be encouraging any kind of relationship between them her eyes went immediately to the tomato sauce on the girl's face.

Maddox turned to the pair walking in and she jumped up from the bed and walked over to Regina eagerly. The older woman's heart nearly melted at bright smile on her face. She bent down with a cloth in her hand, wiping the sauce off her face.

Emma plopping down on the other bed, then Maddox's smile dropped to a confused frown. "What's wrong?" The girl poked at Emma's leg. "Is she sick?"

"I, uh…She's just really tired, dear, but she's always like this anyway."

"I can still hear you." Emma mumbled into the bed sheets with her limbs spread out over the bed. Regina shook her head and made quick work of her boots, dropping them by the bed. She pulled the jacket from her shoulders and laid it over the chair. Emma turned over and shuffled under the covers and pulled them up to her chin. She grinned sleepily at the older woman. "I had a nice time."

"Thank you for the company. Get some sleep, Swan." Regina said walking out of the room with Maddox following. "Don't fall asleep on your hand."

"'Kay. Night, Gina." Her words muffled by the pillow Emma buried her face into.

Regina took Maddox's hand and led her out and over to their room the next door over. "It's passed your bedtime."

"But I don't have a bedtime." She hopped on the bed swinging her legs and watching Regina close the door and drop her purse in a chair.

"Well, you do now, little one." Regina sat down on the other bed and removed her heels and coat and jacket underneath.

Maddox scrunched up her nose at the idea but shrugged her shoulders. "You're really pretty."

"Thank you, dear." Regina smiled. "You are as well but don't think that gets you out of a bedtime tonight, young lady."

"Okay." The girl kicked her sneakers off and stood up to unbutton her jeans. Regina watched her pull them off and neatly fold and lay them on the edge of the bed before burrowing herself under the thick blankets. "You know any stories?"

"I know a lot of stories, dear." Regina confirmed. "What would you like to hear?"

"I don't know."

Regina came around and sat on the edge and looked over to the expectant eyes looking up at her. "How about the story of the Princess and the Stable Boy?"

"Never heard that before."

"Trust me, dear, it's certainly an original."

* * *

Emma yawned into her cup of coffee, looking up as pair walked over to the table. "Morning…Your Majesty…"

"Really?" Regina rolled her eyes, taking the seat across from her and letting Maddox go hunt down her breakfast at the bar. "Where's Lily? Run off already?"

"No, Fruit Loops." Emma pointed over to the woman next to Maddox.

Regina didn't say anything but her distrust showed on her face. Neither of the pair decided to comment on it. "How's your hand?"

"I fell asleep on it." She flashed her extremely red and sore knuckles, distracting from her mumble.

"Maybe you should have someone look at that."

"It's fine. Just needs some ice."

"Well how's your head?"

"Better than I would expect from a night the bar."

"You were at a bar with me."

"True. You purposely kill any potential 'drunk all night' partying." Emma sipped at her coffee tiredly even though her tone was laced with amusement at the look Regina was giving her.

"Would you slow down?" Lily followed behind an overly energetic Maddox practically vibrating as she hopped into a chair adjacent to Regina. Lily put down a plate of pancakes covered in syrup with bacon on the side in front of her and a bowl of cereal next to that. Emma quirked an eyebrow at the food and then looked over to the girl who probably weighed less than all the foods she'd been eating since yesterday. She surely took down that sandwich quickly according to Regina.

"Sure you can eat all of that?" Emma asked.

"Yes." Emma frowned at the bite in her voice while Lily tried to hold back a laugh at the sudden stare off they were having.

Regina rolled her eyes at the both of them before tapping Maddox's hand. "Eat your breakfast, sweetheart."

The little brunette nodded and dug into her plate without hesitation. Emma looked down into the bottom of her mug and groaned at its emptiness.

"Hey, Regina, wanna get some coffee?"

"Hm? Oh, yes…sure." She snapped her eyes to Emma who was looking at her curiously. She hoped her cheeks weren't burning red like they felt.

They quietly got their coffee, the oldest of the pair giving glances to Maddox and all the other couples in the breakfast area. Emma noticed and she kind of felt bad. Even though Regina told her it wasn't her fault, she still felt a responsibility of her ruined love life.

"Regina, I'm sorry."

"What?" Regina frowned, wondering if there had been a conversation going on that she hadn't been paying attention to.

"The whole Robin thing."

The older woman sighed. "We discussed this. You did me a favor."

"It doesn't feel like a favor. You're not with anyone."

"Honestly, I think taking a break from True Loves and soulmates is what I need. I have Maddox now, I'm sure she's a handful. Besides part of my job right now is to make sure the savior's heart is protected."

Emma rolled her eyes and sighed. "For a minute I almost forgot about all the crap going on in Storybrooke."

"I did, too."

"No rest for the wicked…" Emma paused and cringed as she sat down. She sheepishly looked up to Regina. "I'm such an idiot. I'm-"

"Stop apologizing, Miss Swan."

"Got it." Emma made a zipping motion across her lips and drunk her coffee. Maddox giggled at her and Regina literally wiped the grin off her face as she reached over with a napkin to get rid of the syrup covering her mouth.

"Well, what's next?" Lily asked looking between Regina and Emma.

"Back to Storybrooke, I guess." Emma shrugged.

"You don't sound in much of a hurry as before."

"We were here to get Robin Hood but obviously we don't need him. All urgency can really be toned down since Storybrooke isn't really in danger if I'm outside of it and as far as we're concerned Robin can kiss my-" Emma clamped her mouth shut at Regina's widened eyes.

"You said a bad word." Maddox said accusingly with a small grin.

"I did not." Emma gave the little brunette an indignant scowl. "I meant to say kick...rocks."

"No you didn't."

"You know what…"

"Everyone is finished." Regina chimed in, pulling the plate full of only syrup away from Maddox. "Maddox and I will check us out and we can get going."

"I wanna stay with Lily." Maddox looked at Regina with big puppy dog eyes and she deflated at the request knowing she couldn't say no to that face. This was like having a five-year-old Henry all over again.

"Alright."

"I'll go with you Regina." Emma left no room for question and moved ahead of the woman, already halfway to the door by the time Regina had actually registered what she said.

"We'll be back then. Behave Maddox." The child nodded obediently and as soon as Regina disappeared she grinned evilly at Lily.

"So, uh, here's the deal…" Emma started with a somewhat embarrassed smile on her face. Regina directed her attention to her as they moved towards the front desk. "I didn't include a fancy hotel in my 'off to save Robin Hood' budget and I kind of need you to pick up the tab for the night we spent here."

"'Off to save Robin Hood' budget?"

"Is that seriously the only thing you heard?" Emma frowned, leaning against the front desk. A thoughtful look crossed Regina's face as she handed over the key cards and without a second thought pulled out her credit card, ready to pay the balance. "Look, I'll pay you back as soon as we get back into town. I know it's rude but I didn't plan for any of this. Regina please say something…"

Regina blinked and turned to the younger woman. "I'm sorry what were you saying?"

"You really only heard me say Robin Hood budget? I'll pay you back when we get home."

"There's no need for that. It was my idea."

"But-"

"Emma, if it'll make you feel better to pay me back when we get to town, so be it. Otherwise, I don't mind. It's no hole in my pocket." Emma looked at Regina skeptically. Regina rolled her eyes and sighed, handing over her card to the clerk at the desk. "Don't give me that look. I don't care."

"This isn't one of those times where you'd be pissed at me if I just accepted it because I'm being rude or…I don't know cheap?"

"It's not rude. And it's also not cheap if you're offering to pay me back for it."

By then they were half way back to their table and Emma nodded with a polite smile. When they laid eyes on Lily and Maddox, they were staring at each other. The five-year-old was grinning with a little tooth missing as she munched on Cheerios.

"All plots, schemes, and other ideas that may result in us as a collective getting in trouble, put it away." Emma called, causing Lily to jump. "Everybody good?"

Maddox nodded and slid out from her chair and hurried over to Regina, wishing to be picked up. Strangely enough Regina complied as soon as she saw her coming. Lily followed, getting up from her seat and turning to walk after the retreating brunettes until Emma's hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up to Emma and felt metal drop into her hand. Her keys.

"I know you don't forgive my parents…maybe not even me but you are still my friend, I want to trust you. Don't make me regret this."

"You're letting me drive my car?"

"Yeah. I want to trust you." They both met Regina outside the hotel in the parking lot. It seemed she and the younger brunette were having a really intriguing conversation. "Okay, Your Majesty, onward to Storybrooke."

"Wait!" Maddox began to squirm in Regina's hold until the woman put her down. Lily moved her hand away from the door handle of her car and Emma stopped at her already opened door.

"What's wrong?"

"I…" the girl looked away, down at her hands.

"What is it, sweetheart?" Regina asked tilting her chin up.

"My bunny…I promised I'd come back."

"Your…your bunny? A stuffed one?" Maddox nodded shyly. "Where is he?"

"A treehouse."

"A treehouse where? We're not even close to a neighborhood that has a backyard." The little brunette looked up to Lily as she spoke. "Where is your bunny?"

"I told you, he's in a treehouse."

Emma was sure she was ready to cry. "Calm down, kid. Where is this treehouse?"

"Chelsea." Maddox mumbled.

"Staten Island?"

She frowned for a moment before nodding. "Yes."

"You know where it is?" Regina asked. Emma nodded. "Well then let's go get her bunny."

"Regina, that's nearly an hour from here…in the opposite direction of Storybrooke."

"Emma, we're getting the toy."

"Seriously? The world was just at stake yesterday and now we're headed to most haunted borough in New York for a stuffed rabbit?"

"Haunted?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Staten Island is not haunted."

"It is. And if it's not, it should be. Seaview…Willowbrook. That place is fucked up." Regina covered Maddox's ears at the crude language and it earned just barely a smile from the girl. "…and far."

"We're going to get it and that's the end of it." Regina said dismissively and proceeded to get Maddox settled in the car. Emma looked over at Lily in disbelief.

"Let's go get the bunny, Emma. What else can we do?" Lily said getting into her own car.

"Buy her a new one…buy a her a dozen. The "Robin Hood budget" has enough for little stuffed toys." Emma said to herself turning to get in her car.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me." Emma groaned, eyeing the house through her car window. She glanced to the backseat where Maddox was waking up from her nap after having surprisingly remembered the address to their destination. "Kid, please tell me you gave me the wrong address."

"No." Maddox said sleepily looking up through the window. She pointed over to the yard that led to the backyard. "That's where my treehouse is."

"Well, let's get this bunny." Regina said not sounding at all annoyed or confused or anything remotely related to any feelings Emma was having. Regina started to open the car door before Emma's hand snapped onto her thigh. She jumped slightly at the touch and turned to Emma who looked just as shocked by the action, her face flushing. She pulled her hand away and cleared her throat.

"Regina, you can't be serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious?" Regina tried to keep her focus on the subject rather than the savior's choice in place to grab her. Then she frowned at herself at how dirty that sounded.

"Because...look at this house. These people are going to flip their shit when they find out a kid that's not theirs has been hanging out in the treehouse in their backyard."

"We'll get the bunny and come back. What's the problem?" Regina questioned, confused.

"Kids just don't have stuffed animals in treehouses nearly an hour from where they live."

"Other people didn't always live in it." Maddox mumbled but it was loud enough for them to hear her.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It was my house." Maddox admitted quietly causing both women to turn around to her with curiously furrowed brows.

"Your house?" Emma asked.

"I don't wanna talk anymore. I want my bunny."

Regina sighed, wishing the girl would have said more. She glanced over to Emma. "Please just drop it. Obviously, it's a sensitive thing for her."

"Yeah, sorry." Emma said turning away to look out her window. As soon as the door closed behind them, she turned back to see them walking hand and hand up to the big house. Her mind fell to how right it looked for Regina to be holding the girl's hand as they walked. Now she couldn't deny the fit. Plus, it'd be kind of a dream come true for Henry since he mentioned having a sibling more than once. Surely the girl was going to be the boss of him and he'd enjoy every moment of it.

At the thought Emma smiled before she heard a knocking against her window. She looked over to see Lily standing there and rolled down her window. Lily grinned. "Sup, bitch."

"What is it?" Emma sighed feigning aversion. She couldn't complain about having that part of her friend back from before.

"This is the place her bunny lives?"

"Yeah...why are you and Regina acting so casual about this? 'Her bunny lives here', who says that?"

"Take a chill pill, Em. She's five." Lily patted Emma gently against her chest as she stepped back from the window and spotted Maddox disappearing around the house to the back. Regina was talking with someone inside the house. They were shadowed by the door so she couldn't make them out.

Suddenly, Regina turned on her heel and walked back towards the car. Lily looked worriedly into the car to Emma.

"Regina, where's the kid?" Emma asked as the woman opened the car door.

"I afraid she did live here. Two years ago…I'm surprised she even remembered this place from such a young age."

"Why is she staying with that douchebag then?"

"The couple who owned this house two years ago died in a car accident. It's in the paper." Regina said sadly.

"Brutal." Lily commented.

"How did it happen?" Emma glanced between the two women, realizing how entwined the girl was in their lives already.

"One parent died on impact and the other was in the ICU for three days until he passed in his sleep from internal bleeding in the brain. They weren't sure which parent suffered what injury. Maddox doesn't know the details. I don't think she should know."

"Agreed. At least not now but she might be kind of pissed that you had information on it and never told her."

"I'm with Emma on that one. She'd be scarred for life." Lily said watching Maddox reappear and practically skip over to the car. The girl glanced at Regina before holding the toy up to her. Regina took it into her hands and looked at the dirty bunny. It need to be stitched up and maybe a trip through the washer but it still was an adorable bunny.

"He's lovely, Maddox. We'll clean him up when we get home." She handed the toy back and Maddox held it to her chest. Emma and Lily smiled softly at the action. "Let's get you two inside. We have a long drive ahead of us."

* * *

"Maybe I should drive." Regina said looking over to Emma who was visibly growing tired.

"I'm fine, Regina." Emma grimaced as a yawn crawled up her throat.

"You're tired. It's been five hours."

"Yeah, five hours of silence since my radio decided to be a dick and not work. How are you not tired?"

"I like the quiet." Regina muttered. Emma waved her hand dismissively and sighed. She figured it may have been her fault. For the silence. She'd been working through her thoughts so she hadn't actually spoken a word to her companion. "We could talk if you like."

"What do you have to talk to me about?"

"I don't really know…"

"You can talk about Maddox. She's cute."

"She is adorable." Regina grinned.

"Adorable…little devil."

"No comment on that." Regina smirked and Emma laughed but stopped when her phone started ringing. She frowned at the number on her screen but answered anyway.

"Uh, hello?"

"Em."

"Lily?" Regina raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, um. We have a situation."

"What kind of situation?"

"Situation? What situation?" Regina asked in a panic. "'What did she do?"

Emma waved her hand to stop her questioning so she could hear what Lily was saying.

"She has to use the bathroom; so next rest stop, yeah?"

"Sure. Just follow me."

"Can do."

As soon as she hung up she felt Regina's eyes staring into her soul. She turned to her slightly and tried to assure her before she flipped. Her car was falling apart enough as is during the road trip, the last thing it needed was a heated former Evil Queen to lose her shit. "Regina, Maddox just has to pee. Again."

"Oh."

"She has the bladder the size of a bead."

"She's a child, Emma."

"A bead." Emma made a pinching gesture with her hand as she put on her signal to turn into the café on their right. Regina rolled her eyes before looking in relief at Emma's choice to stop. Apparently, she was too regal to walk into a 7/11 but still requested a coffee from Emma when she left to get a pack of candy.

"I'm going to take Maddox to the restroom. Do you want something?"

"No, I'm good."

"I'll be back."

"I'll be here." Emma smiled after her, leaning back in her seat. There was a banging on her window immediately after. Her grimace deepened at seeing Lily smirking at her. She rolled down her window.

"Can I help you?"

"Your girlfriend really doesn't like me."

"My girlfriend?" Emma frowned. "Oh, Regina? She's not my girlfriend. We're just friends."

"Uh huh, sure…"

"Lily, I have a boyfriend. And obviously you know Regina just broke up with her douchebag boyfriend."

"I didn't get any of what was going on. It seemed a whole lot more than cheating and falling in love with another woman."

"Zelena is her 'wicked' older sister out to ruin her life because Regina apparently gets everything."

"Well, I'm not sure how accurate that assumption is now that she has no boyfriend."

"To be completely honest I don't think she ever really liked him that much anyway." Emma shrugged. "He _was_ a nice guy, though he always smelt like pinecones, but now he's just as bad as anyone else."

"That sucks but I'm guessing with Maddox, she won't have time to mourn her breakup with wine, ice cream, and Netflix."

"True. I'd love to see what Regina's mansion looks like after a week with Hurricane Maddox running through there." Lily laughed and nodded. Emma grinned before catching Regina and Maddox coming back. She could've sworn she saw a distraught look on Regina's face as she stared over at them but she chalked it up to the café not being any better than the gas station. But with the blue all over Maddox's lips, Regina's problems were probably with Lily.

"Eat a crayon or a something?" Emma chuckled.

Maddox narrowed her eyes and folded her arms with her bunny in her hand. "No…I'm going with Regina."

"Fine with me. Let's get moving." Lily walked back to her car.

Emma made a split second decision and opened her car door. "I'll ride with you." Lily turned around in surprise and Regina's eyes widened before her face fell to a frown.

"Uh, sure."

"Cool." Emma nodded and then turned to Regina. "You can drive right?"

"You want me to drive the deathtrap?"

"My bug approves of you. I trust you."

"All right."

"Great. Call me if something's up." She walked off to get in the Chevy with Lily and they seemed to already be sharing a laugh. She tried to ignore the feeling in her chest. It wasn't a warm and fuzzy one.

"I wanna ride in the front." Maddox said interrupting her thoughts as she tugged on Regina's sleeve.

Regina tore her eyes away from Emma and down to Maddox looking up at her. "I don't think so, little one."

"Why not?" She pouted.

"Because I said so."

"Do I get to do anything?"

"You get to ride in the back _safely_ and we'll talk about anything you want."

"Anything I want?" The little brunette asked skeptically, letting Regina buckle her seatbelt.

"Yes, that's the deal." Regina got in the driver's seat.

"Okay. Name all the flavors of ice creams." Maddox started.

* * *

Regina got out of the car as Emma tossed the scroll onto the hood of the bug. She grabbed it and got back in before she unrolled the scroll, the town line appearing to both her and Maddox.

"Whoa." Maddox looked wide eyed, clutching her bunny close. "Do it again, Gina."

"I can't right now."

"Please! Do more magic."

Regina paused and turned to Maddox. "You know about magic?"

Maddox nodded with excited, wide eyes. "I wanna see more."

"I will show something else, _if_ you sit back and stay still." Maddox nodded and pressed herself into the seat as they drove through the barrier. They both felt the magic push back at them and Regina let out a breath of relief.

"Gina?"

Flexing her hand, she positioned it so that Maddox could see. Effortlessly she conjured a fireball, hoping it wouldn't scare her. Maddox leaned forward against her seatbelt, completely intrigued by the magic. Regina grinned and forced the flame to change colors.

"Can I touch it?" Maddox questioned reaching out to the fire.

"No." Regina snapped her hand closed, worried that she might have burned herself even though she knew Maddox was nowhere close to touching the flames. Maddox pouted and leaned back with a frown.

Emma knocked on the hood of the car and came over to lean in the window. "Welcome back to Storybrooke, Madame Mayor."

"Good to be back, Sheriff Swan."

"There's a greeting party waiting for us near the diner. It'll be quick." Regina agreed silently and Emma nodded, walking back to the other car. Regina followed after them trying to think of why it was so hard to watch Emma just willingly get in the car with someone who wanted to kill her parents just yesterday.

"You're a ma-your?" Maddox interrupted, saying the word with a frown.

"A mayor. Yes."

"What's that?"

"It means I'm in charge of everyone."

"You can get me lots ice creams, right?"

"Well, yes but I don't think you'll be eating that much ice cream. Only after you've finished your dinner…on weekends."

"Fine." The child sighed but much like a five-year-old, her mind drifted off to other things. "Do lots of people live here?"

"I suppose so."

"Does Lily live here too?" She asked curiously.

"I believe it's very possible that she will now."

"Am I the only one who's going to live with you?"

Regina froze at the question. She'd been avoiding mentioning Henry. She was torn in four ways. Henry could approve of her decision but then again he could also be far from thrilled about Maddox's arrival. And for the girl herself she could completely shut down the idea of having him around. It wasn't a far off assumption that maybe after her father's passing, Maddox hasn't had the best model foster dad take his place. Men in general could be an issue. She recalled the way Maddox had eyed Robin in New York but she had a feeling that the girl was sensing Emma's bristled feelings when 'Marian' showed up.

"Gina?"

"Yes, what was that you said?"

"Do you live alone?"

"No, I…my son, Henry, lives with me as well."

"Oh." Regina cringed hoping not to hear protests to her and surprisingly, it never came. "Are you married?"

"No, I'm not."

"But-"

"I adopted Henry when he was a baby and…a few years ago Emma came to town and she was his birth mother. Do you understand what that means?"

"Yes. Now you and Emma are a family with Henry?"

"No, not necessarily...well, a little, I suppose..."

Maddox frowned at the information but got distracted with another question. "Are you my friend now?"

Regina wasn't sure if the subject could be completely dropped now but forcing her to understand relationships was going to take a lot longer than a 5-minute drive into town. It wasn't like she needed to know anyway. Kids had more important things to worry about. Regina believed it had been about who had the best packed lunch or something of the sort. That'd definitely take her mind away from complicated, frustrating grown up things.

"Do you want me to be your friend, little one?"

"Yes but you can't take my bunny's spot. He's number one on the list."

"There's a list, hm?" Regina grinned.

"You're number two and Lily's number three."

"What about Emma?"

"I don't know…"

It surprised Regina the savior wasn't number one on her list. But it made since considering Emma had been having a hell of a bad day, to put it lightly. "Emma was having a bad day yesterday. She just has a lot on her mind and it was very frustrating. She's a very nice person." Regina tried to tame the nerves building up in her as they neared their destination. Even seeing Henry in a blob was making her anxious.

"She said I eat crayons." Maddox argued.

"Emma was just teasing, dear." Regina said absently as she shut off the engine. "She's a child in a grown up's body.

"You have to get her out, Gina!" Maddox said in near outrage.

She honestly couldn't get any more adorable in Regina's mind but she found ways. "I didn't mean really, Maddox."

"Are we at your house yet?"

"No, not yet. Emma and I need to go meet with a few friends and then we can go home."

"I wanna stay here."

"Why? You don't want to meet Henry?"

"Is he nice?" Maddox asked shyly.

"Of course. He's the nicest boy you'll ever meet."

"Okay." She nodded hesitantly and picked up her bunny. Regina watched as Emma and Lily got out of the car and decided it'd be best to get it over with. She exited the car, earning curious glances from everyone there. She vowed to never like the bug and now here she was driving it. Still she continued, nervously, pulling Maddox from the car and putting her on her hip as she closed the door.

Maddox tucked her face into the base of Regina's neck in hopes that she could bypass the meet and greet but before she knew it. she was already hearing chatter.

"Mom, who's this?" Henry asked.

"Why don't you introduce yourself, little one?" Regina whispered in her ear. She shook her head against the older woman's jacket. "We can go home right after. I promise."

Maddox lifted her head and turned to the boy she was supposed to be meeting. She expected a much smaller boy but he did look nice like Regina said. He smiled at her once they made eye contact but something hanging out his book bag caught her attention. She looked back to him and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm Henry." He said putting his hand out. Maddox glanced over to the proud smile on Regina's face and loosened her grip on the woman slightly as she looked between his hand and his face.

"Marbel or DC?" She asked surprising both the other brunettes.

Henry chuckled at the mispronunciation as he nodded. "Excellent question…definitely Marvel."

The girl stayed silent like she was thinking before she pushed her small hand into his with a bright smile on her face. "I'm Maddox."


	3. Chapter 3

**Earlier That Day...**

 _"I know the last thing you want is to be anywhere near my parents. You're pissed at all of us, but just try to give your mom a chance. She's probably the only innocent person in this mess." Emma sighed looking over at the party waiting for them. "You can hate me and hate my parents but don't hate her. It's not her fault."_

 _"I don't hate you. You didn't know."_

 _"But-"_

 _"Your parents…I don't…forgive them but I don't want to kill them either."_

 _"So what? Like shake hands and move on?"_

 _"If I must." Lily sighed moving to open the door. She stopped and turned back to Emma next to her. She stared at her for a moment before touching her arm. "I know yesterday was intense and I see you're going through some pretty messed up shit, too. I'm sorry I clocked you so hard."_

 _"It's cool." Emma grinned lightly. She glanced in the mirror and shrugged. "Just a split lip. You can barely notice it…right?"_

 _"Sure, Em…" Lily said biting back a laugh._

 _"Right?" Emma questioned after the woman and quickly looking closer into the mirror. "Lily?!"_

 _"You look fine. Let's get this over with."_

 _Emma nodded and stepped out of the car, glancing over her shoulder to Maddox and Regina behind them in her car. This couldn't go completely wrong at least. They walked up and Emma hugged both Henry and Hook but foregoing one from her parents though she did send them a look that they seemed to understand. Lily, however, walked up to them and put out her hand._

 _"Mom, dad, this is my friend, Lily." Emma said._

 _David was the first to put out his hand and Lily shook it with a half-smile. Snow followed his lead hesitantly. It was an awkward handshake but Emma was just relieved they weren't trying to kill each other._

 _"Nice to meet you." David nodded and Lily returned the gesture before Emma turned her in the direction of the blonde woman behind them._

 _"Maleficent, this is Lily. This is your daughter."_

* * *

 **Present...**

Emma sat down at the bar counter next to her, sipping at her drink. "What's in the glass?"

"Cognac." Lily swirled the liquid around her tumbler. Emma nodded and turned to the bartender.

"I'll take a Bourbon, straight, thanks." The man got to work on her drink and before she knew it, it was in her hand.

Without looking at each other, she and Lily tapped their glasses together and took a few drink before Lily looked over to her. "I don't know…"

"You wanted to talk. Let's talk." Emma nudged her side in encouragement, knowing the heavy weight of first meeting your parents. "About anything..."

"About anything?" Lily questioned. Emma nodded. "Be careful, Swan. I could go deep into your personal territory."

"You and I both know you're no stranger to doing that. Especially with me."

"All right, fine. My mom is…actually pretty cool. Better than I thought. Surprisingly enough, I'm not as pissed at her as I thought I would be and when I thought about it, I felt kind of bad. She had no say in what happened."

"My parents had all the say." Emma said picking up her glass. Lily didn't miss the bitterness in her tone.

"Em, I'm not at war with them…or anybody anymore. I spent a long time being mad. Wanting to kill you even. It wasn't worth it. You're tired. I'm tired…"

"Tired how?"

"In every way imaginable. Em, I think I can be okay with this. Being here. Being with you."

"With me?" Emma questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention this earlier…boyfriend, Emma Swan? A pirate?"

"So what?"

"You bat for the other team. Are the fairytales only for hetero couples?"

"No…I don't know. Look, I know I never mentioned it before but I…" Emma scratched the back of her neck.

"You swing both ways?" Lily gasped. Emma sighed. "Hey, I'm all for it. Best of both worlds. I get that Captain Leather is hot but really? Him? He's not exactly your type."

"We're not really together."

"Then why did you say-"

"I don't want my parents on my back about finding someone. Plus, Henry likes Killian. He's a nice guy. I love him."

"But you're not _in_ love with him."

"No." Emma sighed in defeat.

"Are you even having sex at least?"

"Nope."

They fell into silence shortly after her answer. Only after being asked so many questions she realized her love life was a failed launch and her sex life was just as bad. Emma grimaced and tightened her grasp around her glass. She glanced over at Lily and they both seemed to meet each other's eyes.

"Those early twenties were the good days. Remember when we…" Lily trailed off. Emma nodded her understanding of her statement. "We could do it again. Just like old times."

"Lily it's been seven years since we did that." Emma looked at her in shock, "You want to be friends with-"

"Is anybody else offering, Emma? We had fun. No strings attached. Or are you chicken?"

"I don't know, Lily…"

"Follow me." Lily dropped a few bills on the counter for their drinks and walked away. Emma glanced around before getting up from her stool and following her. She was skeptical as she followed her through the pool tables and to the back, passed the bathrooms and out the back door.

She was pinned against the brick wall almost immediately after she stepped out into the cool night. Without time to respond Emma felt her friend's lips on hers. Her eyes widened, not in protest, but with darkening lust. Green disappeared behind tired lids and Emma's hands fell to Lily's waist. She pulled back to tease her and pulled back even more every time Emma leaned forward for another kiss.

"Our little secret then?" Lily questioned, catching Emma's bottom lip with her teeth. Emma nodded launching forward at her, only to be stopped by a finger over her mouth. She frowned. "I'm going to go check in at the bed and breakfast. Room seven. Magic yourself there in…eight minutes."

"Eight minutes." Emma nodded slipping her hands in her back pockets. Lily stole a kiss from her, crossing her arms over Emma's lower back. Emma yelped when she turned away and began walking off. She rubbed her butt with her palm, frowning. "You just-"

"Nice ass."

Emma waited. She glanced at her phone every few seconds and then started to pace. No second thoughts or regret crossing her mind about what she had just done and what she was about to do. No one would get hurt. She and Lily had done this before it ended well in the aspect of no emotions.

Emma paced, closing and opening her fists before glancing at her phone again. Ten minutes. She immediately disappeared in a fog of magic and reappeared in room seven where Lily was leaning against the door of the room.

"Late."

"That was the longest wait ever."

"The end of your celibacy waits on the 80s bed spread." Lily smirked as she walked towards her, backing her up until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed. Emma rolled her eyes but was caught off guard by the lips on her neck. She tried not to shiver and although that was successful, holding back a moan was not. Lily's laugh vibrated against her skin and the shiver then escaped her.

"Neither of us will tell. Well, I won't, _if_ you admit something."

"Admit what?" She put her hands over the one's roaming her torso. Instead of stopping them she allowed her hands to be pulled across her front, under her jacket, feeling the ridges of her ribs.

"You're a bottom." Lily whispered against her ear.

"You're evil."

"Admit it." Her hands neared the hem of her shirt. "…or I'll stop."

"Don't you dare." Emma growled.

"Say it." Lily put a hand to her back and pulled her closer. Emma fought against it, trying to avoid saying what was a guilty secret she had tried to keep to herself. It was necessarily all true she'd go months with the urge to be the bottom and then spend a year of so topping without hesitation. This month was feeling like a bottom month. There was no way to argue that with Lily anyway.

She mumbled something and Lily refused to take that as an answer. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"Bitch." Emma muttered and it earned her bite on the shoulder. She hissed at the stinging but her traitorous body found it arousing. "Okay. You're the top...you're the top."

"Close enough, Emma."

Lily pressed her lips to her neck and grabbed her thigh, forcing her leg up around her waist. Emma lost her balance and they both fell backwards, her back colliding roughly with the bed.

"There are no takedowns during sex."

"There are now." Lily smirked.

* * *

"Henry." Regina knocked on the teen's door as she finished off the last button of her blazer. The door swung open with a half-dressed boy on the other side.

"Do I have to go to school today?"

"Yes, you do." Regina raised an eyebrow at him as she turned around to get another reluctant child out of bed.

"She's not going to school." He huffed, pulling his arm all the way through his shirt.

"She's not enrolled yet, Henry."

He sighed and turned back into his room to finish getting ready. Regina pulled out her phone and texted her secretary to tell her she wasn't coming into the office. She received a quick reply and pocketed the device before opening the door to their new addition.

She'd decided to take a day off to get Maddox settled in and was actually quite excited to decorate the room and go shopping. It was fun with Henry when he was little and had a new theme every month, so it had to be even better now that she had a little girl to do these things with. Surely, the little brunette loved shopping.

Her face fell into a frown as she walked in finding that she couldn't spot the girl in the bed but it was obvious she was there from the small lump under the blankets and the bunny she refused to let go of. She chuckled at how lost the girl had gotten in them as she walked over to the bed and felt around the blanket until she came into contact with a little shoulder.

"Maddox, it's time to wake up." The nearly invisible girl tossed under the blankets before peeking her head out with one eye open to the older woman looking over at her. She shook her head. "Maddox?"

"It's too early." The five-year-old mumbled.

"It's seven, dear. It's early enough." Regina pulled the sheets away from her little body. Maddox pouted, pulling in her legs as she tried to curl up and go back to sleep. Regina eyed her in one of Henry's Spiderman shirts that was much too big for her and decided that the only way to get her out of bed would be to carry her. She leaned over the bed and put an arm around her small frame, pulling her closer. Regina picked her up and walk out of the room with Maddox cradled against her chest.

"I don't wanna wake up now."

"That's too bad, dear. We have a lot to do today."

"Like what?"

"Well, we have to buy you clothes. Decorate your room. If you behave there will be ice cream."

"I like ice cream." She informed, waking up significantly. Regina chuckled as she walked down the hall to the guest bathroom. She noted that was another place she might have to decorate as well. Henry passed by them with his book bag over his shoulder, he snickered at them as they disappeared into the bathroom.

Regina planted Maddox on her feet in front of the sink she wouldn't be able to reach by herself. She waved her hand and a stool appeared. On cue, Maddox stepped up on it smiling that everything was now in her reach, although nothing there was for her. Sensing her internal questioning, Regina waved her hand again. A purple toothbrush appeared in the cup by the sink and children's toothpaste next to it. She leaned over to grab a face towel and placed it next to the edge of the sink.

"Are you going to cooperate with me?" Regina questioned. Maddox nodded obediently and the older woman helped her through brushing her teeth and washing her face just for assurance that it was done thoroughly.

After ten minutes and a much needed bathroom break they walked back to her new room. Regina opened the door and Maddox sprinted inside seeing the clothes laying on the bed. Regina busied herself with planning the room design as Maddox put on her clothes and shoes. She tied them with skill that Regina was certain Henry hadn't yet mastered at five.

She popped up from the floor and grabbed her bunny. It was tucked in her arm and she looked up at Regina.

"All done?" Regina smiled.

"Yes."

"Good, let's start our day." She picked her up and brought her down to the kitchen.

Maddox settled into a stool and Henry looked down at her with a smile. "Morning." He mumbled with a mouthful of cereal that earned him a disapproving look from his mother. Maddox smiled and giggled at him. Shortly, he hopped up from his chair, grabbing his bag. "Gotta go."

"Go where?" Maddox questioned with a frown looking between Regina and Henry.

"School." He laughed, ruffling her hair. Maddox swatted him away and grimaced as she tried to straighten out her untamable curls. He moved over to kiss Regina's cheek. "We can read comics when I get home."

Regina watched Maddox light up at the idea, her anxiety about how they would get along completely vanishing. The little brunette turned to her looking at her expectantly. The older woman gestured for Maddox to follow her to the foyer.

"Where are we going?" Maddox asked watching the woman slide into her coat. She turned and grabbed a much smaller coat and held it out for the little brunette to stick her arms through. She obeyed, waiting for the answer.

"We are going to the diner for breakfast first. And no ice cream until later this afternoon."

Maddox frowned but nodded following the woman out the door and to her car. "Can I sit in the front?"

Regina was hesitant and didn't want to regret her decision after something tragic happened but…there was actually the fact that her car didn't have backseats. She cursed herself for choosing the damn two door. She nodded weakly and Maddox happily jumped in and put her seatbelt on. Regina looked distraught as she walked to the driver's side.

She drove slowly and kept glancing at Maddox the whole way there and was relieved when they were out of the car and sitting at a table by the window. It still lingered on her brain and the more she thought about it, the more she was sure she would have to make a life changing decision…like she hadn't already done that.

"Are you going to order something Madame Mayor?" Ruby asked in amusement and Maddox looked across the table to the older brunette with a concerned frown. She got up, her knees in the seat and reached across the table causing her fingers to brush the woman's knuckles.

"Gina."

She blinked out of her thoughts and looked to the girl and then to Ruby. She cleared her throat.

"Your usual, right?" Ruby asked, knowing the woman wouldn't want to acknowledge her moment of zoning out. Regina nodded gratefully at her. The younger woman turned to Maddox with a smile.

"Hi there, haven't seen you around here before."

"I just got here yesterday."

"Well, welcome to town, kiddo. I'm Ruby." She put her hand out and the girl took it without a second thought.

"I'm Maddox."

"Awesome name."

"Thank you."

"Always up for giving a pretty lady a compliment." Ruby smiled glancing to Regina who looked amused by them both. "And what can I get you, Maddox?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes…with milk."

Ruby looked to Regina for protests but the woman surprisingly nodded her agreement. "Coming right up ladies."

"Why were you looking at me?" Maddox asked.

"I was thinking. We have a lot to get done."

"Order up." Ruby called coming back to the table and Regina looked genuinely confused. It hadn't even been two seconds. The younger woman laughed. "I can sense you coming a mile away and chocolate chip pancakes are the breakfast special today." Regina nodded her understanding as she picked up her coffee and took a sip. Ruby leaned over to Maddox and whispered to her. "These have extra chocolate chips."

The girl looked awed at the plate and then beamed at the woman. "Thank you."

"No problem." the younger woman chuckled patting her on the back. "Let me know if you guys need anything."

"She's nice." Maddox said watching her leave.

"Yes, she is." Regina nodded, never really having a problem with Ruby in the past. She was actually a very nice person for a wolf.

"Does she have magic too?"

Maddox had often asked the question about every person they'd come into contact with. After explaining magic in the car on the way back to Storybrooke, the girl loved the town even more. She was all for it. It was nice that she could do magic and no one was worried about it. Guiltily, she liked that Maddox looked at her like a superhero from Henry's comic books when she showed her magic.

"She's a wolf, dear."

"Cool."

"Cooler than Lily?" Regina questioned childishly.

"Um…" the little brunette thought about it as she got a piece of pancake onto her fork. "I don't know. Lily's fun."

"I'm sure Ruby is fun."

"Maybe." Maddox said sticking the fork in her mouth and glancing at the syrup already on her hands. Regina went back to her coffee and happened to glance out the window. She tilted her head seeing Emma retreating from the B&B.

It was nothing new that Emma got a room there to get away from her parents sometimes for a few days but seeing her leaving there was much different from all the other times. She was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and her hair was in a messy bun that she never wore in public. She walked in the direction opposite from her parent's apartment and from the pirate's ship.

Regina frowned at the very few theories she had. One in particular bothered her to no end and she had no idea why. Her and the pirate had a night together after the stress of New York. It piqued something in her and she refused to address it or question why she was beginning to have these strange feelings when something involved Emma Swan.

She was about to look away from the spot that Emma had long disappeared from when someone else emerged from inside. Lily, clad in the same thing from yesterday as well. She was finishing the top button of her shirt as she looked in the direction Emma left before walking the opposite direction. No doubt going to find her mother.

Her eyes widened and her heart picked up speed for reasons she still wanted to ignore. Her hand grasped her mug tightly. Maddox noticed that she was looking out the window and beamed when she caught a glimpse of the woman she had become so fond of already.

"It's Lily." She said happily, not noticing how red the woman across from her became at hearing her name. For just a second, her breath hitched in her throat. The mug shattered loudly startling everyone, especially Maddox. The five-year-old jumped in her seat with wide eyes. "Gina?"

The older woman looked to her, having snapped out of her head at the mug breaking in her hands. She glanced toward the window, Lily gone from her view. She moved her hand only to find that it stung tremendously.

"It's just a broken glass." Ruby said warding off unwanted attention from the other patrons as she walked over. She smelt the blood mixing with the coffee and firmly wrapped a towel around the injured hand. "Regina?"

"Thank you, Miss Lucas." Regina sighed avoiding eye contact with the wolf. She looked to Maddox. "I'm sorry if I scared you, sweetheart."

"It's okay." Maddox looked at her hand sadly before perking up. "Maybe ice cream will make you feel better."

Regina faked a smile to her. "I'm sure it will, dear."

* * *

"I've only been gone two days. How much could've gone wrong?" Emma questioned her father as she went through her clothes.

She was just fresh out the shower with a phone call already waiting for her. She hadn't yet gotten her hands on a cup of coffee after her exhausting night with Lily. That thought made her wonder what she was getting herself into now that Lily was in town and they were doing this while her parents still thought she was in young love with Hook.

That was not the case at all. Far from the truth.

David sighed and scratched his head with a frown. Then he shrugged as if she could actually see how stumped he was by the situation. "Well, it's complicated, Emma."

"Un-complicate it, _Dad_. Isn't that something you're supposed to be able to do?" Emma questioned with a smirk, putting the phone on speaker and pulling on a shirt and then beginning her routine of fighting her way into her own pair of jeans.

"I didn't get the memo on that. I thought it was like threatening boyfriends and killing bugs." David said and Emma snorted. "Anyway…there were three break ins. No one was hurt and nothing got stolen."

"Odd…"

"Exactly. I don't know what to write in my reports. I haven't even caught a glimpse of a suspect. Not even sure if I really have suspect if they didn't actually do anything."

"It's still B&E. There's a suspect." She informed. "Doesn't sound too bad other than someone has to pay for broken windows or whatever. So, probably some teenager who needed something to do with their free time."

"So no town crisis?" David asked, hopefully.

"I'm positive but if we find these kids, I'm not going soft on them."

"Roger that, Sheriff." David chuckled. "See you at the station, later?"

"Yeah, I'm sure Regina isn't going to give me an excuse for not getting my paperwork done."


	4. Chapter 4

**More Emma not getting her shit together (even though everyone is telling her to) and more Maddox.**

 **Yes, this strange disturbances are significant to the plot. They're going to lead to our villain.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Does your hand feel better?"

"Yes, it does. Thank you for asking, dear." Regina grinned at the little girl next to her.

"Where are we going?" Maddox asked peeking out the window as they drove around.

"Shopping. Every girl needs a great pair of shoes." Regina smirked proudly thinking of her massive collection of shoes in her closet.

The girl frowned down to her worn sneakers. "But I like my shoes."

"Yes, but wouldn't you like more shoes?"

"But if I get another pair I have to throw them away."

"No, you don't. Who told you that?" Maddox shrugged and Regina sighed knowing who most likely told her that. "Well, it's nice to have a variety of choices. Especially with shoes."

"Do you have lots of shoes?"

"Yes, I do." Regina replied with a wide grin. The younger brunette gave her a sideways glance and shook her head.

"They're just shoes."

"Sweetheart, you've never been shoe shopping have you?"

"I don't know."

"I think once you see your many options, you'll like it." Regina gestured to the building ahead of them as she had managed to park without the girl even noticing.

Maddox looked out the window curiously and immediately rushed out of the car before Regina could even take the key out of the ignition. Her eyes widened watching the little brunette rush across the front of the car and she went after her as quickly as she could but shortly decided chasing a little girl wearing running ready shoes was not a good choice in heels. She stopped and rolled her eyes, poofing away from her car and appeared inside the store at the front door.

Maddox stopped abruptly as the doors slid open when she walked into the sensors. She looked surprised at seeing Regina there and turned back to the Mercedes in the parking lot and then back to the woman. Her face was stoic as she seemed to be thinking about something and then she broke into a bright smile. "Cool."

Regina opened and closed her mouth at the reaction but settled for a small chuckle. "Do try to stay with me next time, dear."

"'Kay." Maddox agreed and reached for Regina's hand as if it was something natural to her. She looked down at her in question before continuing forward into the store. Passing by the front counter, the teen looked up from his magazine a little shocked to be seeing her there but then his eyes feel to the child holding her hand. He looked at her thoughtfully before giving a carefree look to them both and going back to his magazine.

"Where would you like to look first?" Regina asked as they passed through the women's clothes.

"I like dinosaurs."

Regina's brow creased in thought and she took a quick right, which Maddox followed without losing step. "Well, then…maybe we should start with sleepwear. Surely, you don't want to have dinosaurs on your day clothes."

Maddox scrunched up her nose. "Why not?"

"Well, you're-" Regina paused, looking down at her. Maybe it wasn't best to put gender and themes together. Maddox didn't seem like the type to tolerate the typical reasons for that. "Okay so dinosaurs…What else do you like?"

"Bunnies."

"And?" Regina asked release her protective grip on the girl's hand, fingering through the array of shirts in the kid's department. Maddox glanced behind her and pulled at a pair of pants seeing that they were yellow but turned away uninterestedly.

"I like yellow and pink. Sometimes purple."

"All right. Do you like butterflies?" Regina asked curiously pulling a shirt down from the rack. The little brunette looked at it pensively before shaking her head.

"Have a look around, Maddox. We have almost all day."

"But we have to get ice cream." Maddox said sounding stunned that Regina would forget.

"Yes and there's ice cream. The faster we get all your things the faster can get ice cream."

Suddenly, a small hand pulled her wrist away from the stuff she was browsing and a shirt hanger dropped between her fingers. Regina arched an eyebrow at the shirt and watched as the girl went off in search of clothes she liked. Maddox was a girl, the urge to shop was hard to fight even at her young age.

"I like this." Maddox informed her but walked passed the item still hanging. Regina frowned and grabbed it wondering if maybe that's what she wanted her to follow for. The child could barely reach the racks by herself anyway.

They walked through the aisles as Maddox thoughtfully picked up a scarce few items. Although the ones she happened to linger on Regina picked up wondering why she wasn't grabbing them. After two pairs of jeans and four shirts Maddox picked from the rack herself, she turned to Regina as if she was finished but looked surprised at the mountain of clothes Regina held in her arms.

"But I…it was only six." Maddox said in disbelief. Regina hadn't noticed she stopped her shopping until the girl started to pull at stuff in her hands.

"What are you doing dear?" Regina asked peering at the child over the mountain of clothes.

"Too many clothes…"

"Too many? What are you talking about?"

"I only took six."

"My dear, you do know that's not enough clothing for even a week? You don't even have any sleepwear in here."

"You want me to get more?" Maddox asked, dropping her hands to her sides.

"Well…yes. You've never really gone shopping have you?" The child shook her head and sighed, becoming frustrated at the confusing situation.

"My daddy took me to get clothes and he'd let me get whatever I wanted but I'm not 'lowed to anymore."

"Why is that?"

"I'm not 'portant." Maddox mumbled. "You have a son."

"Now whoever told you that is a complete imbecile." Regina huffed, wishing she had her hands free so she could pull the girl close. "Listen to me, Maddox. Yes, I have a son, but until now I didn't have you. You are very important to me and I care very much for you. I will give you everything you need."

"But-"

"That also includes a full wardrobe." The child looked a bit uncertain as she wrung her hands together and this feeling of being unimportant roaming around in such a young girl's mind broke Regina's heart. "Money is absolutely no issue, I assure you. Now go get anything you want."

"What about-"

"Yes, toys count."

Maddox beamed up at the older woman and hugged her legs for a long minute before she moved off to find stuff to get. Regina followed her lead and walked closely behind her as the girl managed to get the clothes from the rack and hand them to Regina who took each one with a smile to encourage her to go on.

As Maddox handed her a pair of pajama bottoms with swans on them and her eyes widened at the design. She had completely forgotten about what she had seen earlier and now she was thinking about it again. She sighed to herself dropping them into the pile of clothes folded over her right arm. And just when she was sure it couldn't get worse, she saw a glimpse of blonde hair once or twice, writing it off as one of very many blondes in town.

That was until she spotted the woman in question walking up to her.

"Well, I see who wears the pants in this relationship." Emma chuckled.

"Considering she _is_ the one wearing pants, I'd say your assumption is correct."

"Need help with that?" She gestured to the clothes on her arm.

"That would be much appreciated."

"I never thought I would see you spending a fortune on clothes in the extra small section of the kid's department."

"Neither did I. At least I'm not dreading her choices in clothing."

"Well, yeah she has a better fashion sense than most five year olds."

"And you." Regina smirked and Emma grimaced playfully at her. They fell into silence as Maddox continued looking around. Regina cleared her throat. "So what brings you here today, sheriff?" Regina glanced to the satin red dress shirt hanging from the younger woman's fingers.

Emma followed her stare and her cheeks tinted pink before she coughed and chuckled. "I, uh, came to get a new shirt for…work." Emma stumbled over her words in a less than believable fashion.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I know you don't enjoy my work wardrobe. I have a fancy shirt now."

"Shouldn't you be working, Sheriff Swan?"

"Shouldn't you, Madame Mayor?"

"I took the day off."

"And I'm on call." Emma smirked. She looked to Maddox coming back up to them and handing Regina another piece of clothing. "How's it going kid?"

"Gina's getting me stuff."

"I can see that." She paused. Regina started to shake her head at the obvious sign that she was coming up with an idea. Before the older woman could object to her plans Emma grabbed her quickly and led her over to the sitting area near the dressing room. She sat her down and put the pile of clothes next to her. Then she took off with Maddox reluctantly in tow.

"Miss Swan, what are you doing?"

"You'll see. Come on, kid. We're going to have fun."

"'Gina." Maddox whined as Emma pulled her away. She only chuckled at her watching them disappear. After a few moments of silence Regina debated going after the two until her phone vibrated with a text.

 ** _Mom?_**

 _Henry? Shouldn't you be paying attention to your class?_

 ** _I have a break. How's Maddox?_**

 _I think your mother is about to play dress up with her._

 ** _Ma's there too? Why wasn't I invited?_**

Regina grinned at the message and texted back: _Sorry, dear. Girls only._

 ** _I'll remember this._**

 ** _Gotta go. Bye mom._**

"Now presenting, Deputy Maddox." Emma announced sliding from the dressing room. Regina looked up from her phone screen and to her before her eyes traveled down to Maddox. She looked like a much smaller Emma honestly. Skinny jeans, a white shirt, and a black jacket as companion to Emma's red leather jacket. The little brunette stuffed her hands in her pockets much like Emma did and she dropped a pair of aviator sunglasses on her nose that were much to big for her.

"Large and in charge...or small and sassy, if you want to be literal."

"I don't know what to say to this." Regina said biting back a laugh.

"What do you say kid? Like it?" Emma questioned turning the girl to the mirror. Maddox pulled the glasses off her face and inspected the outfit. She turned to Emma and nodded seriously before putting the glasses back on her face and walking back over to Regina. Regina laughed in amusement and Emma chuckled.

"You do look absolutely adorable, dear." Regina plucked the glasses from her face and Maddox smiled at her happily, seemingly now enjoying her their shopping spree. Emma walked over with a handful of clothes and dropped them into the neat pile on the other side of Regina.

"Stay right there and tell me how this shirt looks." Emma said shrugging out of her jacket and tossing it to Regina. The woman grimaced at her but didn't say no. Regina frowned at her as she left but then unconsciously found herself holding the jacket close. Maddox looked up at her before glancing at the clothes around them and then she looked at Regina thoughtfully. "Thank you."

"Whatever for?"

"Buying me lots of clothes."

"You're very welcome, sweetheart. We haven't even been shoe shopping yet."

"I just want sneakers."

"Then sneakers you shall have."

"And then we get ice cream?" Maddox perked up.

"Yes, and then we get ice cream." Regina smiled.

"Okay how do I look?" Emma asked walking out of the changing room buttoning the shirt over her black tank top which left room for Regina to stare at her chest. Regina quickly lowered her eyes to the shirt. She took note of how nice Emma looked when she wasn't wearing her usual leather but when her eyes snapped back to green orbs she suppressed her blush.

"You don't like it?" Emma frowned. Regina chose not to say anything and walked over to her instead. Greens eyes widened and her breath hitched at the slender fingers moving towards her, though she relaxed at the movement against her shirt. One button undone.

"Even if it is you..." Regina grabbed her right arm and properly folding the sleeve back unlike the messy attempt Emma made. She reached for the other to fix. "You can clean up very nicely…even though it's just for work."

"Well, savor it because this is the only time I'm wearing something like this to work."

"Of course it is." Regina scoffed.

She nearly choked, catching the sight of something she couldn't ignore. The dark purple mark on Emma's neck brought her back to earlier when she watched Lily leave the inn. Something not unlike jealousy flared up in her chest but she chose to ignore it. "What is that?"

"What's what?" Emma looked at her and then followed her eyes as best she could to the mark. At the slightest glimpse of it her eyes widened in panic, knowing exactly what it was.

"Is that a-" Regina began to ask but Emma swiftly moved her hand over the mark and a white glow shined under her palm.

Regina frowned at the action even though she wasn't expecting Emma to tell all about spending the night with her long lost friend when she has a boyfriend. She hoped there was more to it than that. She didn't want to think Emma had no morals but she also didn't want to have it confirmed that she was with Lily either.

No clue what that was but it's fine."

"You didn't let me take a look at it." Regina frowned, trying to keep her tone leveled.

"It's fine, Regina."

"It could've been something a bit more serious than a superficial blemish."

"I feel fine. It was nothing. I'm uncoordinated a lot. I could've ran into something as usual." Emma shrugged it off hoping Regina would drop it.

Regina grew quiet for a moment before forcing herself to lift at least the corner of her lips. "I guess you have a point, Miss Swan."

"What did I say about that? It's Emma, Regina." She snorted, walking over to grab her jacket and tossed her shirt over her shoulder.

As they walked in silence Emma jerked the tag off her new shirt and stepped up to the counter, dropping it in front of the teen. "One shirt for me." He eyed the other stuff in her hands and looked as though her wanted to say something. "These are for the shopaholics behind me."

He glanced over to Regina looking down at the little girl next to her with wide eyes, seeming fully interested in the story she must have been telling.

"Okay." He nodded and rung up the shirt quickly. Emma dropped her payment on the counter and took her receipt, putting the first pile of Maddox's clothes on the surface. Regina placed her pile on the counter as well and pulled the tags off the stuff Maddox was already wearing as the girl held on to her old clothes. Regina didn't realize just how many clothes she had gotten until she heard beep after beep of him ringing their stuff up. Considering how small the clothes were, it was easy to think it wasn't much. The thought happened to make her wonder if Maddox may have been too small for her age. She weighed practically nothing and she wore smallest size there was. It made her worry slightly but then again she could compare the child to Emma who could eat her weight in ice cream and still be as slim as a ruler.

"Sheriff Swan." Emma answered her phone, stepping to the side. Regina glanced at her but turned back to the item scanning going on ahead of her. She watched the boy scan the sunglasses Maddox had worn for all of two minutes as they continuously fell from her face. Regina reached over to grab them and placed them in Emma's open palm just as she put her phone away.

"For you."

"I-"

"They're bigger than Maddox's face. We'll find something that fits her better."

"Oh, well…thanks." Emma put them on her head, planning to slip them on when she got back in the car. "I gotta go check out a disturbance call. You guys need me for anything?"

"No, we'll be fine."

"All right. Call me if you need me." Emma said starting towards the exit. "See you later, Deputy."

"Bye, Emma." Maddox waved at her but refused to turn away from the scanning that had her so fascinated.

"Bye, Regina."

"Have a nice day, Sheriff Swan." Emma smiled weakly at her clipped tone as she turned away. She wondered about the sudden change between them, knowing it probably had something to do with the mark on her shoulder. She put a hand to her neck and got into her bug planning to go have a talk with someone after the investigating the call.

* * *

Emma shook her head as she wrote down the details she could recall from the disturbance call. Her nose scrunched up as she thought about what she'd seen. Nothing.

She'd found nothing at the scene. There was another break in with no notable missing items and some destroyed foliage. Tossing her pen aside, she shoved the folded up report into her back pocket as she got out of the car.

Emma sprinted down to the docks wishing for her confidante to be present. "Killian!" Emma shouted cutting the corner to the ship parked in the water.

The man in question emerged on the deck immediately with sword in hand, expecting an emergency. He stood down see her walking up with tense shoulders but no real sense of urgency. Emma breezed by him disappearing below deck to the lounging room they always went to when she came over. He couldn't get a single word out before she had completely invited herself in.

Hook followed her through the ship until she stopped in the room and turned around to him with a huffed. He smirked at her pouting. "I'm sensing the need for alcohol." Emma gave a short nod and received a chuckle. Hook looked at his watch. "It's noon, Swan."

"Five o'clock somewhere."

"You are right." He laughed and turned to comply with her request. Emma dropped into a chair and sighed as she watched him grab glass and a bottle in his one hand. He sat down across from her and Emma took the bottle.

"Johnnie Walker?" She questioned.

"You need it by the looks of you."

"You're right." Emma poured both their glasses and pushed one across the table.

"You're not here for chocolate and Netflix on your tablet."

"Bingo." Emma snapped her fingers, pointing her thumb at him as her other hand slammed down her empty glass.

"All right then, Emma, why are you drinking at noon?"

"Lily…"

"Ah-"

"And Regina." Emma sighed throwing her head into her hands.

"Maleficent's daughter and former Evil Queen. I don't believe that's a triangle any smart person wants to be caught in, love. Maybe Regina was right and you are an idiot."

"I'm not in a triangle. I slept with Lily last night."

"Not seeing the problem here…yet…"

"She's aggressive at times and Regina saw the hickey she left." Hook laughed throwing his head back at Emma's exasperation. She glowered at him ready to throw the bottle at him. Instead she settled for tossing a pen at him from in her pocket. "It's not funny."

"It is quite funny. What did she say?"

"She asked what it was and I freaked. I said I didn't know and then healed it before she got a closer look at it. I'm sure she knew what it was anyway."

"Then why are you freaking out? Why are you here?"

"Because…I think she was pissed at me."

"We all know how much you hate that."

"Yeah…" Emma murmured into her glass. He started to laugh at her and she scowled at him. "Dude, seriously?"

"As your friend, I'm supposed to laugh at you. So, I am."

"You're actually supposed to be helpful while you laugh...damn pirate." She muttered pouring herself more of the alcohol.

"Fine but you do have to get to the root of the problem first."

"Us. Me and Lily."

"I see. Well there's always the notion to tell your parents we haven't actually been a real couple for months now."

"They're going to be on my ass about finding my true love and all the other crap that I say is a load of shit."

"I second that." He said raising his glass before drinking the last of it.

"What?" Emma looked at him skeptically.

"As devilishly handsome as I am, my love life is no better than yours Emma."

"Devilishly handsome?" Emma scoffed. "Really? What does that make me?"

"Female equivalent." He shrugged. "Much less rugged."

"Gee, thanks. You really know how to charm a lady."

"I try." Hook smirked taking another small drink.

"But, seriously, your love life is on hold too?"

"At least you got laid. Always keep that in mind when you complain about the other things."

"Trust me I know. I just…when I am finally getting some, it's complicated. I'm in a fake relationship with you for show and my new friend in town is my fuck buddy. I'm getting screwed no matter how this goes…and not in a good way."

"I think you already know my answer, Emma. You have to officially announce our break up."

"And then what?"

"I don't know…maybe try something with Lily? Oh hey here's an idea…go date people."

"Asshole." Emma mumbled.

"You can start reviving your love life by officially breaking up with me." Hook said standing up from his seat and pulled Emma along. She stumbled behind him until they reached the deck.

"Killian, where are we going?"

"You are going back to your day job, love. Then you're going to flirt with some eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, got it?"

"Huh?" She questioned, highly confused about what was happening.

"We're broken up, Emma!" He yelled and she cringed and looked around. "We're finished!"

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed.

"You're free to date whoever you want. Next time you see Lily, have sex, walk around like you just got laid. Show it. You're free, I'm free. Have a ball."

"This is ridiculous."

"Well, I am a man of ridiculous plans. Now go on." He gesturing towards the dock. Emma put her hands on her hips and squinted at him, refusing to move. "Get off my boat, Emma Swan."

"This is a stupid plan."

"At least I have one."

"It makes no sense."

"Get off, Emma." He said, sighing at her stubbornness.

"No. This is stupid and I don't…want to…" She frowned averting her eyes to the ground.

"What does that mean?"

"This is…safe. I like not having to worry about who I have to be with. Even if we're not really dating at least no one is on our backs about it."

"Swan, this…whatever this is. It isn't safe. You can't find love like this. You can't even try to find it. Your first step is to let it be an open thing that the only thing we do on my ship is eat food, drink, and watch this Netflix thing all the time."

"Killian…"

"Go have your fling with Lily. This will be a weight off your shoulders."

"But…can you at least be there when I tell my parents and Henry? They like you and Henry loves to hang out with you. I want them to know we're still…an 'us' in a way."

"It'll be my pleasure, love." He gave her single bow of the head and she grinned, stepping forward to hug him. Without hesitation the pirate hugged back.

After a few moments, he furrowed his brow questioningly. Tilting his head, he pushed Emma away at arm's length. "Isn't that Regina's new _baby_ by the docks?"

Emma turned around swiftly in a panic, spotting the little brunette tossing something at the ducks a few feet away from her. "Maddox?"

"Where's Regina?"

"I don't know. I'm gonna go see what's up." She said beginning to walk off the ship. She waved a hand out to him. "Thanks, Killian. Be back later with Jack Daniels."

"I'll hold you to that, Emma." He called after her.

* * *

"Hey, there, Deputy." Emma called walking up to Maddox as she threw crumbs to the duck up front.

"Hi."

"So what's up?" Emma asked curiously, glancing around for any sign of Regina.

"I'm feeding the ducks."

"So I've noticed. You…you're here alone?"

"No, Gina's at the car getting bread."

"You guys brought bread?" Emma frowned. "Just for the ducks?"

"Of course not, Miss Swan." Regina voice chimed in and Emma startled looking around swiftly for source of the voice. She didn't see the woman anywhere.

"Regina? Where are you?"

"She's right here." Maddox giggled, holding up the compact mirror in her hand. Emma leaned down and squinted at the unamused look on the older woman's face.

"Again I must ask...where are you?"

"Right here." She responded and Emma visibly jumped, practically squealing in surprise as Regina appeared behind her.

"Don't do that to people!" Emma said in frustration, stamping her foot childishly.

"My apologies." Regina chuckled with Maddox's bunny tucked between her arm and her chest as she handed a white bag to Maddox who traded it for the mirror. Emma looked at the bunny with a grin. Regina glanced down and cleared her throat, straightening her back. "I had to agree to hold her bunny while she fed the ducks."

"Cute." Emma snorted before frowning down to the former queen's hand. She reached out and took her wrist to examine her red hand. "What happened to your hand?"

"It was an accident. Nothing serious."

"Regina." Emma scolded, even though she knew the situation was reversed just yesterday.

"Gina burned her hand so we had to get ice cream to make her feel better." Maddox explained.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I just forgot to heal it."

"If you're sure." Emma slipped her hands to her back pockets.

"Mom!" Henry shouted coming over to them. Maddox turned to look at him, forgetting she was holding crumbs in her outstretched hand. She grinned at the boy coming over to them wrapping his arms around both his mother's shoulders.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Emma questioned.

"I came to crash the girls only party you guys are having."

"Girls…only party?" Emma looked confused and glance between Maddox and Regina hoping they'd enlighten her.

"Yeah, I texted mom earlier and you guys were all shopping and didn't invite me. Mom said it was girls only."

"Oh…well get out of here. Girls only, right Deputy?"

"No, I like Henry." Maddox said smiling up at him. He smiled and back walked over to her and she passed him the bag of breadcrumbs just as a duck came up to her. "Hi, ducky." She received a quack in return and the crumbs were plucked from her hand, purposely having her finger harmlessly nipped in the process. She giggled before continuing feeding them with Henry following suit. He glanced back the two women watching them and he smiled at them shortly before turning back.

"Can't believe you were worried they wouldn't like each other."

"I was nervous that maybe Maddox had an issue with…"

"Men."

"Yes. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable but Henry is permanent. I really don't know what I would've done if that was a problem. I didn't want to have to choose. I wanted her to be with me…quite possessive but-"

"Protective." Emma corrected. "You would have had no way of knowing if you left her in good hands with just anyone in New York. It'll seem like bullshit but Storybrooke is probably the safest and nicest place in world. What you did was an act of kindness and love that one in million can find in a place like that."

"Thank you, Emma." Regina smiled lightly and Emma returned it.

"So, where did all the bread come from?"

"Miss Lucas offered after she overheard us talking about the ducks."

"Gina, look!" Maddox squealed in excitement. Both women looked over to where the girl pointed and right there waddling right up to the little girl was one bird they didn't expect to see.

Regina wanted to pull her away but Emma grabbed her arm to keep her in place. She looked over at Emma impatiently but followed her stare to the creature walking up to Maddox and waited patiently for its share of bread. The little brunette glanced back to Regina, silently requesting permission.

Regina gave Emma an anxious look before nodding her head.

The youngest brunette reached inside the white bag and took a handful. She held it out and laughed at the cold beak tickling her hand before it walked off, heading for the water again. Henry watch her face go from neutral to overly excited and she practically vibrated rushing over to his mother.

"Gina did you see it?" She asked excitedly taking her bunny from her arm as Regina lifted her onto her hip.

"Yes, I did." She smiled at the girl. She glanced over to Henry sprinkling the rest of the crumbs out for the ducks to finish off and came back up to them with his hands in his coat pockets. Then her eyes fell to Emma who looked at her curiously. "It seems we often attract Swans, hm?"

Emma tilted her head in a way Regina found adorable but refused to admit it. Henry grinned and Maddox went on talking to the former queen about the swan. Although she was listening, Regina's eyes seemed to meet green orbs still looking at her with a small smile.

"Swan." Hook called out. Emma's smile fell at Regina's grimace. She sighed and looked to him stopping in front of Henry. He instantly got the hint he had interrupted something. He gave her an apologetic look as he handed Emma her radio. "You left this."

"Couldn't do my job without it." She smiled shortly. "Thanks, Killian."

"No problem." He waved and walked off in a hurry and Henry looked after him curiously before looking to his blonde mother.

"What's with you two?" He asked.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Emma dismissed. "Look, I gotta head back to station. I'll see you later, kid."

"Oh…okay." Henry frowned after her as she walked passed him. "Later, ma."

"Bye, Deputy." Emma said briefly passing by Regina holding the little brunette. Maddox frowned slightly at her quick exit, not even getting the chance to respond. Regina noticed fairly quickly she got no send off.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Henry?" Regina turned to her son.

"Did something happen with her and Killian?"

"Not that I know of."

* * *

Pensively looking over the drawings in her hand, Regina sighed. Glancing between the one drawing and the room now inhabited by a sassy, adorable five-year-old, she realized that the room hadn't the slightest resemblance to the little girl. Monochromatic obviously wasn't her taste considering all the vibrant colors on the drawings Maddox had left on the coffee table in Regina's study.

Sparing one last look to the drawings, she nodded to herself with finality and took a step back. She raised her hand and waved it over the length of the room, transforming it in shimmers to the image she pictured in her head.

Although Maddox had mentioned liking pink and yellow, Regina wouldn't stand for an overbearing amount of the color in her house. It reminded her of Snow and not Emma for some reason. For that reason alone, the room was covered in soft pastels of teal and pink with a few yellow objects here and there to satisfy the girl.

Regina smiled proudly at the room and was hopeful that it'd be easier to find her in a mountain of blankets that didn't weigh more than her.

She left, closing the door behind her to go search for Maddox. When they had gotten home, Maddox's excitement over clothes disappeared as she thought about how long it would take to put them away. Regina told her she didn't have to make the attempt all by herself and ever suggested that Henry would help. He declined but changed his mind after Regina shot him a sharp look. Nothing convinced the five-year-old though. Until she figured everything out she left her to coloring and watching tv in the living room.

It was a surprise when she found the living room empty. "Maddox?" Regina walked back into her study. She wasn't there coloring. Bathroom was empty. Kitchen and dining room were vacant. She tried not to panic though.

She hurried up the stairs again and walked straight towards Henry's room, not knocking as she walked in. "Henry, have you seen-" She stopped, spotting him sitting against his headboard.

" _Worlds? What does Hulk care about worlds?_ " Henry read softly. " _Hulk just knows you are not his friends – because he has no friends. So Hulk will leave this place – and you will not try to stop him…_ "

Regina relaxed at the sight and smiled. Maddox was sitting in his lap with her head resting on his chest and her bunny hugged close. He read quietly but the girl was pulled into the book intensely, hanging onto his every word. Until he paused and looked up to his mother.

"Have I seen what?" He asked causing Maddox to look up at her.

"I…nevermind."

"Are you sure?"

"I was just looking for Maddox."

"Me?" Maddox asked in surprised.

"Of course you, silly. Who else is named Maddox?" Regina chuckled. "I didn't mean to interrupt your reading."

"It's totally cool, mom." Henry sat the comic down on the nightstand and lifted Maddox off the bed. He moved over to his desk. "I have to finish some reading homework anyway. We'll read more later."

Maddox nodded, unbothered by the interruption in reading. Maddox walked over to Regina.

"I have a surprise for you."

"I like surprises." She said and turned to Henry. "I got a surprise."

"Awesome. Mom's surprises are the best." He nodded and Regina smiled at the praise. The girl walked over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the chair. The boy stood up towering over her and let her lead him to the door.

"I want Henry to see it, too." She reasoned to Regina. The older woman just chuckled and nodded, leading the way to her surprise. She stopped at the door for a moment, noticing Maddox's confused frown. Regina stepped aside and pushed Maddox forward.

Her small hand turned the knob, pushing the door open, revealing quite the surprise. She gasped, walking slowly inside. She smiled widely at all the pinks and yellows and blues.

"This is great." Henry said to his mother as he looked around. "You even got her comics."

"Only a few. I don't think she can actually read them herself." She glanced to him in concern on her face. "Do you think she likes it?"

"I'm sure she does." He whispered.

"She isn't saying anything."

"It's shock."

Regina was about to respond when she felt herself stumbling from impact. She caught herself with the door frame and looked down to the five-year-old hugging her legs.

"Thank you, Gina." She mumbled into her waist. Regina put her hands on the girl's shoulders and smiled.

"You're very welcome, sweetheart. So you like it?"

"I love it." Maddox smiled and grabbed Regina's hand to show her the room, as if she hadn't created it.


	5. Chapter 5

"You what?" Lily laughed with a scrunched up nose as she sat down on her drink. The bell of the diner went unheard by her and her mother as they talked over dinner.

"It's true. Unfortunately, I was-"

"Lily, we need to talk." Emma appeared in front of their table. Maleficent looked up to her skeptically. "Sorry to interrupt, Maleficent. It'll only take a minute."

"Emma, I'm busy." Lily frowned.

"Oh, no. Go ahead." Maleficent said with soft smile. It was out of character for the woman she knew to want to her parents dead only a few days ago. Although the woman never seemed to have a real problem with her even after the dragon killing trial when the curse broke. "I'll be here, Lily."

"I-" Lily started, looking between her mother and her friend. She sighed and nodded. "I'll be right back."

Lily led the way to the back with Emma following. Once they were alone, she glared at Emma. "What do you want?"

"I thought we were friends now?" Emma looked amused at the woman's falsely annoyed expression.

"We are." Lily sighed. "You interrupted dinner with my mom. I was actually enjoying it."

"Sorry. I promise this will be quick." She shoved her hands into her back pockets. "So, kind of thought we agreed that this _thing_ was a secret?"

"Yeah." Lily shrugged. "I haven't told anyone."

"You left a hickey on me." Emma whispered.

"I left more than just one. Big deal, Em…"

"Regina saw it."

"What were you doing? Stripping for her?" Lily frowned.

"No, asshole. It was on my neck!"

"And?"

"And? What do you mean 'and'?" Emma frowned.

"So what? She probably thought you got it from your fake boyfriend."

"That's not the point. She doesn't even like Killian. I just don't want her to be pissed at me." Lily smirked, finding the woman's pouting to be kind of cute. "It's already going to cause problems because I never told her about my complicated love life."

"Okay, fine. I'll leave marks in less obvious places from now on so your bestie isn't pissed. Happy?"

"Thank you." Emma sighed, gratefully.

Lily chuckled at her relief and glanced around cautiously. Emma looked over her shoulder but before she could question what she was looking for, Lily leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed back for a moment then pulled away.

"Maybe tomorrow night?" Lily asked.

"Sounds good." Emma nodded.

"I'm going back to my dinner now, Em." Lily chuckled walking off back to her booth.

* * *

Typically, Emma would be a bit annoyed by a report at midnight. Not just a report. A disturbance that had no details except for that it was urgent and had to be addressed immediately. But with all the quietness around town now that Gold was hidden in the shadows and Maleficent was just happy to have Lily, there was nothing to do. Honestly, she did actually like taking down bad guys.

She hopped into her jeans and grabbed the closest leather jacket she could feel out in the dark of her room. With her feet in a pair of Chuck Taylor's, she booked it down the stairs as quietly as possible. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she was met with her father in the kitchen with her brother in his arms at the counter.

"Hey. What are you doing up?" Emma questioned, taking the time to straighten out her jacket and clip her badge on.

"Your brother has decided now's not the time to sleep." David sighed resting his chin on his fist as he leaned against the island.

"Sorry." She chuckled. He looked at her, about to question where she was going until he spotted the badge. Emma moved over to them and hugged his shoulder. She leaned down to kiss Neal's forehead and he smiled at her with a contented sound escaping him. She shook his hand lightly. "Let Daddy sleep, little man."

"Not a chance." David snorted watching her leave out the door.

"See you in the morning, Dad. Hopefully, you're not still awake when I get back."

By 12:30, Emma was halfway across town on Cherry Lane. Regina had warned her that even though it seemed like Mifflin was the place, this was where most of the older, irate residents of Storybrooke lived. It was just a matter of 'Regina pissed off' irate or 'Granny with a crossbow' irate. Regina was her friend so she preferred that annoyed, irate look she got over Granny's.

She had scribbled down the address on a sticky note and she double checked the address looking to the mailbox number. "This is it." She sighed and got out of the car. She closed the door to her car and walked up the pathway to the front door.

Emma knocked twice and the door was opened instantly. A little old lady with accusing eyebrows and a firm frown set in on her face was on the other side of the door. Emma moved her eyes down to her, placing her hands on her hips. "You called about a disturbance."

"Yes." She said, suddenly clasping her hands around Emma's bicep and pulling her into the house. The blonde closed the door behind them and let herself be pulled through the house. "It was around back...those damn hooligans destroyed my yard." Emma frowned, rolling her eyes. This was like the third call about some assholes pulling up people's flowers. She had hoped this would be more serious than some flower beds.

The older woman guided Emma to the backyard and she looked around. Okay so maybe this was worse than the others.

Emma pulled her arm away and turned to the woman. "What exactly happened? Did they hurt you?"

"No." She answered, sounding as if it was an outrageous question. "They wrecked my garden."

"So you weren't hurt?" Emma asked slowly.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Sheriff Graham wouldn't have asked any questions..." She muttered. Emma cleared her throat, choosing to ignore the comment and walked forward towards the ruined yard. Just like the others, all the flowers were pulled but none of them were taken and from the looks of it, the vandals didn't take or break anything else. This strange outbreak of crime was getting weirder and weirder. It wasn't normal crime and as far as she knew, this wasn't some magical problem either. As she surveyed the damage, she made note to talk Regina about more things to do in Storybrooke. With every curse, more people came to live here in their town and it seemed the teens were getting this restless and bored.

There was movement in the bushes and the older woman shuffled back inside her house as Emma squinted into the dark. A hooded figure came into her sights for a moment and logically that would be her primary suspect.

"Hey!" She yelled and, of course, the figure took off running. Emma rushed after them, vaulting over the low wooden fence. She let out a harsh breath afterwards and suddenly remembered that she wasn't in her twenties anymore and it certainly felt like it too.

"Hey! Stop running...you're making this worse!" She shouted. She ducked under the low hanging brush from a tree as she followed the pathway between two houses.

Emma saw the person turn up ahead, jumping a fence. She sped up a little and then got closer to the fence until the figure turned back to her. There was a flash of green from under the hood and Emma stopped with a surprised frown. Quicker than she could react, a stack of logs tumbled down on her.

"Fuck..." Emma muttered. She shoved the wood logs away, wincing at the few splinters she had no doubt received everywhere and anywhere. Her arms were already aching. "Fine...we'll play that game..."

* * *

Maddox watched intently as Regina and Henry bustled around the house that morning. Regina had woken her up and helped her get ready for the day nearly an hour ago and left her with breakfast and orange juice in the dining room with her bunny. She offered the woman a toothy smile every time she popped in to check on her and Regina smiled back before disappearing again.

Obviously, they were busy so she walked off into Regina's study and found her coloring supplies neatly stacked on the edge of the desk. She resumed her coloring from the evening before with her bunny right next to her for only a few minutes before she heard Henry leaving out the door.

"Bye, mom!" He'd yelled and she went back to coloring right after.

"There you are." Regina grinned, appearing in the doorway. Maddox turned to her curiously. She wanted to know what the big deal was this morning. "Come on, little one. We're running late."

"For what?" Maddox asked, pushing herself up from the floor and following Regina to the foyer. Regina glanced over her shoulder, checking to see if the bunny was with them. She could imagine the little girl wouldn't be too happy if she left it.

"Work." Regina slipped into her coat and the child tilted her head in confusion. "I have to go to work today, dear."

"Where do I go?"

"Well, I was thinking you could spend the day with Emma. Is that okay?"

Maddox silently agreed much to Regina's surprise. Regina slipped the newly repaired bunny out of her hand while the girl got into her own coat. Once she was settled, she smiled as she accepted the toy back from the older woman. Regina glanced at the hall clock and quickly rushed off to her study and then the kitchen before Maddox could even question it. She handed a bag to Maddox as she grabbed her purse and opened the door.

"What's this?"

"Your lunch." Regina answered casually, gently nudging Maddox into the car. It made her nervous to do this. Her car wasn't meant for children and honestly she dared not use it when Henry was younger. Everything was mainly within walking distance. A thought she'd never would've guessed she would have popped into her head as she strapped Maddox into the seat belt and then murmured a spell over the child.

She needed a new car.

The thought haunted her as she drove too carefully all the way to the station. She dropped her hands from the wheel and sighed when they were finally parked. Right on cue, Emma walked out of the building and Maddox tugged on her sleeve to get her attention.

"Morning, little deputy." Emma smiled as she opened the passenger door. Maddox hopped out and hugged her around the legs. Regina smiled at the action and stood from the car with a small backpack in her hand. Emma hugged Maddox back before smirking over to Regina.

"Ma'am do you know you're in violation of-"

"Save it, Swan." The brunette rolled her eyes and shook her head but Emma saw the amusement she was trying to hide. "I'm already about to be late."

"Of course, Madame Mayor." Emma chuckled, taking the bag from the other woman.

Regina frowned as the bag slipped from her fingers. "What happened to you?" She stared at the two cuts on the side of the sheriff's face and Emma shrugged with a sheepish expression.

"Would you believe it if I said-"

"No." Regina interrupted. "What _really_ happened?"

"I was chasing some kid or whoever last night...pushed over a stack of fire logs on me."

"Interesting." Emma watched Regina bend down and tap her finger against Maddox's cheek. It was the cutest thing to watch the little brunette light up at the attention from the mayor. "Can you make sure Emma doesn't hurt herself?"

Maddox nodded eagerly.

"Maybe you can play doctor and put bandaids on her face too?"

"Yes." Maddox agreed.

"Hey!" Emma cried with a frown. "Bandaids?"

" _Pink_ bandaids." Regina smirked.

"Okay." The girl answered and started to pull Emma towards the station entrance.

"I'll see you later, Maddox." Regina chuckled as she moved to get back into her car. Emma gave her a pleading look as she was forced through the doors.

"Bye, Gina." Maddox called before they disappeared inside.

* * *

 _Olive Oil...Beef...Coriander..._

 _Apple juice..._

Regina paused in her grocery list for the weekend. Maddox consumed more juice than she thought was possible. The child only weighed so much. But at least she wasn't too picky.

Her phone vibrated on her desk and she picked it up, seeing it was a text from Emma. Just because it might have been an emergency, she unlocked her phone and went into her messages. To her surprise it wasn't an emergency. It wasn't even one of those 'Emma is bored' text messages. It was photo.

Emma had her arm up on the desk, chin propped up in her palm with a very neutral expression and a warily scrunched brow as Maddox was stand in a chair on the other side of the desk. She was leaning forward in the process of sticking what looked to be a third Hello Kitty bandaid right on Emma's forehead. David had to be behind the camera and she could imagine he was laughing uncontrollably.

She quite adored that blonde idiot and Maddox far too much because she found herself grinning like fool in the middle of her empty office during her lunch break.

* * *

"I can do this. Apologize..." Snow said to herself as she walked down the hall of the inn.

She recalled Emma having mentioned in passing where Lily was staying and now she was there, trying to give an apology to someone who really didn't need to hear it. Didn't really care anymore.

"Simple. Nothing complicated."

Quite frankly, the last thing on Lily's mind was Emma's parents' apology. There were more interesting things going on in the town and the feud she had given up on was long forgotten in the back of her mind. In fact, there was something holding her attention at the moment that was much more fascinating.

Emma Swan.

"As much as I've always liked leather on you, I want it off you." Lily leaned forward from the pillows behind her and looked Emma directly in the eyes. She had a glint in her eye and Emma's eye roll gave off nothing but playfulness. She pulled her jacket off and tossed it, aiming for Lily purposely. "It's only six in the evening and you're already playing. I like."

Emma smirked at her taking a sip from her beer and leaning down to sit it on the floor next to the bed. Lily moved onto her lap, pushing her backwards trapping her hands above her head. Emma squirmed under her and Lily stopped her quickly, crushing their lips together forcefully. Lily's single grip on her trapped wrists tightened and her other hand was gently placed over her ribs and slowly moved down to her hip right below the hem of her sweater.

She pulled away swiftly eyeing Emma curiously for a moment. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

Emma shook her head.

"Good." Lily whispered against the shell of her ear before kissing her there and down to her neck.

Snow walked up to the door, wringing her hands together. She huffed and moved to knock on the door until she heard noise from inside. Naturally, she seemed lean in and listen. Her nose scrunched up at the evident sounds of kissing and she was immediately inclined to back away and try again another time.

"You don't seem so against any takedowns today." She heard Lily say. A reply came but she couldn't hear it but she completely forgot she was supposed to be leaving. She leaned closer, ear pressed firmly to the door.

Then something else was said.

"I had two energy drinks and a bearclaw so I could keep up with Maddox this morning."

Snow froze recognizing the voice all too clearly.

"You've been a very naughty savior…" Lily grinned mischievously.

Emma recognized that look in her eye and slid her fingers over the button of her pants, undoing them before she moved to slide them down her thighs. She was barely past her underwear when the creaking of the door had them scrambling away from each other. Emma tumbled off the bed, knocking over the beer she had put down.

Her stomach dropped as she looked up to her mother staring at them with wide eyes.

"Oh, shit…" Lily whispered. She was shocked, sure, but she was more relieved they hadn't been naked already.

"Oh, god." Emma mumbled. She paled significantly as her mother backed away from the door. The raven haired woman quickly disappeared from the door.

"Mom…wait…" Emma scrambled up from her spot on the floor. She made it to the door just in time to see her disappear around a corner. She turned around to Lily, looking mortified. The other woman gestured to her pants seconds away from sliding down her thighs.

Emma slammed the door behind her and didn't bother to pull her jeans up at all even though the mood had been severely killed. She ran a hand through her hair and sat down on the bed.

"Jeez, even _I_ can't stay turned on after that." Lily laughed walking back over to clean the beer off the carpet.

"This isn't funny."

"It's plenty funny, Em. The well of arousal dried up by the unexpected incoming adult." Emma cringed. "Just like old times, right?"

"Wrong. My mom probably thinks I'm a lying, cheating whore."

Lily looked over the bed and met her eyes. "You're exaggerating way too much now. A lying, cheating whore? Really?"

"Why wouldn't she think that?" Emma questioned, dropping her face into her hands.

"Well because…actually you are a bit of a liar. A tiny bit but you're not a cheating whore. You're not with the pirate guy. Plus, wouldn't that be harsh for her to think of you…? She's your mom."

"I gotta go." Emma said, instantly shooting up from the bed and pulling at her jeans. Before Lily could stop her, Emma was nearly out the door with her jacket and phone.

"Hey, blondie where the hell are you going?!" She called after her.

"I gotta go talk to Killian..."

"But I thought-" She started watching Emma retreat quickly out the door. "Yeah see you later. I definitely want to reschedule our alone time…great…" Lily sighed, slightly amused, to herself as she closed the door and finished up cleaning the carpet. She had a feeling Granny wouldn't tolerate beer stained carpets.

Even though she didn't get the fun she wanted, she was sure her own mother wouldn't pass up dinner together. Conversations with her about the past were equally as entertaining as conversations with Emma were.

* * *

"Killian!" Emma darted up the dock to ship and nearly jumped the distance onto the vessel and ducked below deck. "Killian!"

"Yes, love." The man said appearing from the doorway of his quarters. He practically squealed seeing her coming at him full speed and they collided roughly, tumbling to the ground with a thud. "Quite an entrance, Swan."

"Shut up." Emma grumbled.

"Can you remove your elbow from my ribcage?"

"Sorry." Emma groaned getting to her feet. He got up behind her and straightened out his shirt. Emma glanced at him and frowned. Killian Jones, the pirate, wearing normal jeans. It had to be the end of the world. First her mom finds out about the fling and now _this_?

"You're not wearing leather…? Why?"

"Nothing. I thought I'd try out what your father deems as sensible modern clothes."

Emma blinked and shook her head. "My dad took you…clothes shopping?"

"No. It's was merely a suggestion and since I'm still pretending to be your boyfriend, it's only reasonable that I take your father's advice." He looked down at his clothes and shrugged. "They're actually quite comfortable."

"Well that shit doesn't matter anymore. The last thing my dad cares about now is what you wear." He frowned and watched her begin pacing.

"What are we talking about? I feel like it isn't about clothes."

"My mom walked in on us. Me and Lily."

"Oh." He nodded knowingly. "I see..."

"I'm going to call my parents and ask them to meet us at the diner and we're going to tell them what's going on. I'm going to come clean."

The pirate chuckled. "I expected something more elaborate, Swan."

"Technically, a week of this was too long. And not telling them about us a while ago was probably not the best decision either."

He reached out and touched her shoulder, smiling reassuringly at her. "I'll go get my jacket and you can call them."

"Thanks, Killian. For putting up with all of this."

"I was actually having some fun." He chuckled. "You're a great drinking buddy."

He disappeared into his quarters and Emma walked back above deck to see the crew returning. They all smiled at her as they walked by and she returned it as best she could, considering the situation she was in. They all knew Killian and herself weren't together and they seemed just fine with it. The entire crew was always happy to see her around.

She stepped off the ship and walked a short distance down the dock and pulled out her phone. Her thumb hovered over her father's contact as she started pacing again. She wasn't sure who to call directly. Anything involving sex and fake boyfriends was already awkward but talking to her dad specifically about it was going to make it worse and that's only if he knew by now, which surely he had to.

Mom or Dad?

Apparently it's easier with moms in her case but her mother had visuals. Sighing, she clicked on her father's name and immediately chickened out. She texted him instead: _Granny's in ten? Please?_

 ** _We'll be there._**

That didn't make her feel any better. In fact, she was even more anxious by the reply. There was no way of knowing his feelings as he typed it out. He could be pissed. They could both be pissed. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach at the thought that maybe they weren't going to approve of her liking women too. It never crossed her mind until now. Well, she'd never really had time to even think about other women. Her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming and none of the fairytales she knew of had gay happily ever afters.

"Oh god…" Emma mumbled.

"Stop panicking, Swan. We're going to get this over with now." Killian said flipping the collar of his jacket and looping his arm into hers. "Relax, it'll be fine."

"But they don't-"

"Making assumptions won't help you at all."

He was right and she obeyed but she still thought of everything that could go wrong as they walked. He felt her thinking about it and decided not to say anything. Sometimes the relief felt even better after you've thought of the worst possible scenarios and watch them not even happen. He smirked proudly knowing he was going to be right as Granny's came into view.

Before they could get to door, Lily walked out and stopped. Her eyes glanced to their arms and she smirked. "Meeting the parents?"

"Something like that…" Emma muttered with a grimace.

"I'll leave you two to talk for a moment." Killian nodded walking into the diner. Lily glanced over her shoulder as the door closed behind him.

"Are you okay?" Lily stepped up to blonde with her hands shoved in her pockets.

"I don't know…I never told them I was...you know..."

"Bi."

"Yeah."

"And you're worried they might, you know..."

"Hate me." Emma finished with a nod. "Yeah."

"Everything is going to be okay, Emma." Lily said, reaching out for her arm. "Look, things may seem _traditional_ around here with all the fairytale crap but...think of it this way, did you ever imagine that your best friend would be the Evil Queen?"

"No. Not in a million years." Emma grinned a little.

"Things will work out but maybe this is a sign that we should call it quits on the fuck buddy thing, yeah?" Emma nodded and Lily patted her on the shoulder as she started to leave. "Call me okay?"

Watching Lily leave, Emma stepped into the diner, spotting her parents and Killian silently sitting in a booth close to the back. She glanced over to the counter and looked to Ruby who gave her a sympathetic look. She walked over and scooted in next to Killian.

"So…" Emma started. "Where do I start?"

"I'm guessing from the lack of surprise and hurt on Hook's face, you two aren't together?" Her father questioned. Emma sighed in relief at the calmness of his voice.

"Right." Killian answered.

"For how long?"

"We gave it a shot for a month."

"And then we've been playing the part ever since then." Emma finished lowly. "Anything that has ever suggested we were together was fake."

"Fake? Why did you pretend?" Snow asked.

"Because that's what I thought you guys wanted. My happy ending with him because he earned your approval or something." She leaned back against the seat with a pause. "We tried. We really did but it just wasn't going to work out that way."

"But-"

"Killian has been a really amazing friend for doing this for me. I had planned to tell you but I kept putting it off."

"You lied because you thought that's what we wanted?" Emma gave a nod and a shrug at the same time. "We just want you to be happy. You should have said something."

"Yeah…but I know this isn't really what you want to talk about." Emma wrung her hands together over the table and inhaled shakily. Killian put a hand to her thigh in encouragement and she gave him a small smile. "You want to talk about what mom saw…"

"Yes, she was very vague. I'm assuming it's something I don't want to know or you don't want me to know about." David stated, glancing between his wife and daughter.

"A little of both, really."

"Is there something you need to tell us, Emma?" Snow asked softly.

She ducked her head away from their gaze. It was a lot harder than she expected it to be.

"Come on, love." Killian nudged her shoulder and grinned at her. "It'll be fine."

"Emma?" Snow looked at her curiously.

"I'm…I'm bisexual." She breathed out so quickly, Snow and Charming weren't sure they heard her right.

There was silence all around the table and Emma blanched turning away from their more than likely disapproving faces. She waited for them to get up and walk away, never wanting to speak to her again. She expected them to consider Neal their only child from now on. It'd happened several times in the past and her doubting thoughts didn't bother to take into consideration that they were her birth parents and they didn't expect any pay check to come from being her parents. It wasn't until David cleared his throat that she stopped thinking about what she was going to do with her life. Where she'd live? What she'd tell Henry?

"So you're attracted to women?" He asked sounding as if it was still processing.

Emma looked up in surprise, glancing between them and the door of the diner. They should've up and left her life by now. Her parents tilted their heads at her reaction and glanced at the door as well. She gulped and nodded lightly. "And men."

Her voice cracked a little as she bit the inside of her cheek. Snow noticed it but didn't say anything. David had taken the answer and pieced together everything fairly quickly, cringing at the image his wife must have witnessed.

"Oh…" He murmured. Emma turned beet red at his look of realization. "So you're with someone?"

"Not necessarily…"

"Emma." Killian said giving her a look.

"It's nothing serious. It's complicated."

"Emma, we're all adults here…" Snow said.

"You're not mad?" She suddenly asked instead. Confusion fell over her parents' faces. "I just told you I'm into women and you haven't said anything."

"What would we need to say, sweetheart? Love is a natural thing. It doesn't matter who it's with."

"Are you saying you're okay with that? The possibility that I might end up with a woman for the rest of my life doesn't bother you at all?"

"Why would it?" Snow frowned.

"I kind of expected that fairytales don't have lesbians in them."

"It's not that it was something to be ashamed of…" Snow stated.

"It was more of same sex couples choosing to keep out of storybook spot light." David explained with a chuckle. "Couples were everywhere. It was no problem as far as I know and of course I can't speak for other realms. You thought…we'd be ashamed of you?"

"It's just what I'm used to." Emma admitted, looking at her hands to avoid any eye contact that could be made with anyone at the table.

"Oh, Emma." Snow reached across the table and took her daughter's hand. "We would never be ashamed of you. Especially not for that. Is that why you and Lily were a secret?"

"No!" Emma practically shouted. At the stares directed at their table, she spoke softer. "No. Me and Lily…It _was_ a casual thing I guess. But it's..." She looked at them pleadingly, begging them to not force her to explain exactly what her mother walked in on. "I just…I'm single. I'm not in a relationship."

"Fine with me." David said in relief. _Dragon aborted_ he thought.

"We just want you to know you can tell us anything you need to. Even if you don't think we'll like it, this is about your happiness not ours. We'll support you."

"I got it." She grinned softly at them. "I promise you when I find girlfriend or boyfriend, I'll let you know."

* * *

David raised an eyebrow over at her as Maddox moved around the room like this was her office. He watched the top of her head move by him again before shifting over to Emma who was victim to the girl's cuteness too.

"I'm serious, Dad. This is getting weird." Emma said after finally looking away from Maddox.

"I know. Ms. Johnson, two doors down from Regina, threw a flower pot at me." He frowned and Emma cracked an amused smile. "I mean what do we tell people?"

"I don't know."

"You're the sheriff." David argued with a smirk.

"Gah." Emma groaned, throwing her head back to look up at the ceiling.

"Maybe we should talk to Regina about this?" He suggested and Emma shook her head.

"Nah, it's not serious enough for Regina. There's no magic...plus don't you think that little monkey is enough on her plate?" Emma chuckled gesturing to Maddox walking around with her aviators on and pretending to throw her bunny in a cell. David turned and smiled at the scene.

"Is she always going to spend the day here with us? How old do kids have to be to start school anyhow?"

"I think she should be in Kindergarten or something. Kind of too smart to be five." Emma shrugged. "Regina is working on registration but I have a feeling she's going to need my expertise soon."

"Your expertise?" David frowned. "For what?"

"She's probably going to need the kid's birth certificate, social security number...medical records. I know how to find things."

"Interesting..."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

David shrugged. He was sure Regina was the last person to say it. He looked back over to Emma after a minute and sighed. "So back to the flower thing...Didn't you get knocked out with fire logs because the guy you were chasing used magic?"

"It was late...I really can't confirm that. And I didn't actually sense in magic around."

"Well, we need to figure it out fast. If it keeps happening, we're going to have a gardening club riot on our hands."

Emma frowned. "Uh, you don't think Regina's in a gardening club do you?"

"Uh, I doubt it. She's Regina."

"Right." Emma nodded, certain but...not.


	6. Chapter 6

A deathly silence fell over the diner as the man stepped through the door. He ignored the stares and wary side looks that followed him as he moved over to a booth. He walked up to Maleficent staring into a newspaper with interest. "Am I interrupting your reading?"

Maleficent pulled the paper away from her face, smirking as she took a sip from her coffee. Her eyes managed to stay glued to the table.

"Nice to see you again too…Gold, is it now?" She finally glanced up to the Dark One and gestured to the seat across from her.

"Yes." He reluctantly took the seat and clasped his hands together against the table.

"What is it you're here for?"

"Surely, you've noticed the lack of evil doing going on around here since the sheriff and the mayor returned from their little trip."

"Well, considering you and I were the ones causing the evil doing I'd say that was a rather safe assumption." Maleficent said flatly. She eyed him suspiciously. "Whatever you're planning, I want no part of it. I just got my daughter back and I'm quite enjoying not having to keeping up with any plots and schemes."

"I'm not asking you here to join in on evil playtime." Gold sneered and rolled his eyes even though he wasn't one to be trusted not to have a plan up his sleeve.

"Then what are we here for?"

"I figured you'd be staying for the foreseeable future so I have an offer or two for you."

"And if I'm not interested in making a deal with you?"

"No deals. I'm just giving us both some assurances." That seemed to give the intended affect and Maleficent quirked and eyebrow in curiosity. Gold smirked. "Now that I have your attention, I'm here because you and I have something in common. Perhaps more than few actually."

"Go on."

"You have your daughter. Lilith. I do believe it'd be best if you could provide something a bit more stable to establish your roots. Wouldn't want anything to give her reason to leave town."

"Are you making threats, imp?"

"Not at all. I just have a very good feeling that your daughter and the town savior have the instinct to run very much in common."

"And what is it that you think will keep her from running?" Maleficent questioned skeptically. She leaned forward and added. "I don't think I like where this is going."

"A house." Gold answered. "I'll provide you with that in exchange that we make an agreement."

"Here's when those deal come in. As always, Rumpelstiltskin."

"No dotted lines here, dearie. I only ask that you keep your urges to do something nefarious to yourself. Neither you nor I can put this town in danger. Do we have an understanding?"

"Let me get this straight…you want me to agree to not be evil? You're one to talk."

"I'm taking part in this agreement am I not?"

"You're the Dark One. Why would you not want there to be evil?" She scoffed. He glanced over his shoulder to the two brunettes conversing at the counter, sharing soft touches and gentle smiles. Maleficent looked at them and then back to Gold. "This is about a girl."

"My ex-wife, yes. I still love her but I've continuously made the same mistake over and over again. I came back to Storybrooke for the power and my price to pay was losing Belle again. All that matters is her happiness. Her safety is my priority."

"Your price to pay…" The woman pondered out loud. Gold shook his head. "I've waited a long time to hear you say that but it's not at all as satisfying as I thought it would be."

"Do we have a deal?" He questioned again, sounding more impatient than before.

"For a man who claims to not be making deals you certainly are turning this into one." Maleficent sighed. "We have a deal."

Gold nodded, seemingly pleased with her cooperation and reached into his blazer. He pulled his hand away and placed his dagger on the table. "Just to seal it."

"I'm not agreeing to anything with you after this."

"It binds words spoken and no more than that."

She held her palm out and let the tip of the blade draw blood. Gold took it to his palm as well before tucking it safely back into his blazer and put out his hand. They shook hands firmly, the dark magic sealing their spoken word just as he had said.

"I must say it was a pleasure doing business with you again, Maleficent." He grinned, taking a napkin from the dispenser and wiped the blood from his hands as he stood. "Have nice day."

Maleficent watched him leave out the diner door, a set of keys and the deed to this new house appearing on the table across from her in a cloud of black smoke. She grabbed them cautiously and took a breath. It'd definitely be something to tell Lily later. Just as she tucked them into her own pocket, her eyes met with Belle's across the room. She looked a little concerned but turned back to her conversation.

* * *

"All right you two, time for bed." Regina announced, walking up the stairs. There was shuffling around on the second floor so obviously that meant she would find Maddox in Henry's room, forcing him to read her more of some comic.

She wasn't complaining about it though. The fact that Maddox and Henry seemed to be inseparable ever since they had come back with her was a relief. Honestly, Regina thought she'd have to coax them into interacting but it seemed she had to coax them away from each other so they'd go to bed.

Regina pushed open the door and was immediately met with protest.

"Please Gina." Maddox pleaded. "Little more."

"Sweetheart, it's far past your bedtime." She walked over to the bed and picked her up. "You can read more tomorrow."

Henry looked up from the page in the comic. "Come on, Mom. Just a few more pages."

"Henry, I'm trying to get her to bed."

"More pages, please?" Maddox asked, yawning and tucking herself close to Regina's body. A chuckle was shared between mother and son as she started to rub her eyes.

"Not tonight, baby. You're obviously very sleepy." She received no protests from her then and her eyes were already looking too heavy to fight. Henry just shrugged, sitting the comic down on his nightstand.

"She really tries to stay up past nine. It never works." Henry snickered.

"She's young and full of energy during the day. I say nine is a perfect time for her to crash, although I'd prefer eight instead. Maybe even seven."

"I think Ma tires her out at the station."

"I believe it's the other way around but I'd say they spend most of the day snacking."

"They're human vacuums."

"You're one to talk, young man."

"I'm a growing teenager, it's to be expected. Maddox is like 30 pounds and can surprisingly eat her body weight in goldfish crackers." Maddox mumbled something over the thumb in her mouth. Henry laughed and Regina smiled down at her, pulling the thumb away. "Night, Mom."

"Goodnight, Henry."

Regina closed the door behind her and walked to the room across the hall nudging the door open with her hip. She walked over to the bed and gently laid Maddox down under the soft sheets. Maddox looked up at her with sleepy, squinted eyes. Regina watched the small train make its way over the headboard of the bed as it puffed fake clouds of smoke, pacing itself around the tracks going around the room.

The girl had voiced how much she loved that part of her room. The train was always moving, the pathway magically always changing its course. First thing in the morning Regina would find the little brunette lying awake in her bed watching the train make its way around her room.

"Uh oh." Regina chuckled. "I know that look."

"I'm not sleepy." Maddox argued weakly.

"We're all going to bed. You won't be missing anything, I promise."

"Gina?"

"Yes."

"I want to go to work with you tomorrow."

"Do you now? You want to spend the day with the mayor?' Regina pondered it playfully. "I think that can be arrange if you get to sleep."

"'Kay." She mumbled back, snuggling into the covers as Regina pulled them up to her shoulders and grabbed her bunny from the nightstand and tucked it in with her. "Night Gina."

"Goodnight, my love." Regina leaned down and kissed her forehead, brushing fallen brown curls out of her face. A small smile ghosted over Maddox's face before she turned over on her side, clutching her bunny tightly.

Regina closed the door behind her and walked off to her own room to retire to bed as well. She picked up her phone and scrolled through her contact list, thumb falling over the name in her favorites. She hesitated before typing out a text: _I'm taking Maddox to work with me tomorrow. Are you okay with that?_

A reply came almost immediately.

 ** _Of course. She's your kid lol_**

Regina grinned at it and tried not to acknowledge how it made her feel. It wasn't supposed to make her catch any butterflies. They were just having a normal conversation. Nothing flirty or suggestive had even occurred yet. However, Regina was still biting her lip to hold back a grin.

 _I was just checking. I know you two always have busy schedules._

 ** _We can postpone. No big deal_**

 _I'll be sure to let her know. While I have you, I was wondering if you were free to come over Friday?_

 ** _Sure. What's the occasion? Do I need to dress up?_**

 _Strictly casual. Henry wants to introduce Maddox to Family night and of course you be there._

 ** _I'm definitely in. I'll bring the wine ;)_**

 _You're such a child._

 ** _You love it._**

 ** _So I'll bring the wine, you bring the kids. 6?_**

 _Perfect._

 ** _Got it. Night, Regina._**

 _Goodnight Emma._

* * *

 _Last one_ , she thought.

Regina opened the email and sighed when she saw the unnecessary length. A groan echoed through her office, interrupting Maddox's very important coloring time. The five-year-old looked over to her with curious eyes before turning back to a red crayon.

Her phone buzzed on her desk next to her mouse and she picked it up finding a text from Emma.

 ** _You're not in a gardening club, right?_**

 **No. Why?**

 ** _Just wondering. Text later._**

Regina frowned at the odd and short conversation but she always had to remember her friend was Emma Swan and odd was to be expected. It was almost as endearing as her goofy smiles but she wasn't going to think about that.

"Gina! Look at this!" Maddox was running to her, practically launching herself into her lap. Regina settled the child into her lap and accepted the pink paper extended to her. Every picture melted her heart with knowledge that Maddox so easily and quickly thought they were a family. Pictures of herself and Henry as superheroes and plenty of pictures of Emma saving cats from trees. Or pictures of the four of them together.

This one, however, wasn't a usual. But it was a top five.

"You drew your train."

Maddox nodded in excitement. "Can I get another one?"

"I don't see why not. Maybe your train needs a buddy to race." Regina smiled and the child threw her arms around her neck. A small whisper of thanks was given as Regina hugged her tighter.

Her phone buzzed again, this time with a phone call. She answered it without checking the name as Maddox lounged against her chest, searching her desk for something to play with. She was reaching for her keyboard within seconds.

"Hello?" Regina answered, pulling Maddox's hand away. As much as she'd love to let a five year old respond to the email, it was probably something important. Maybe.

"Regina?" Maleficent asked.

"Yes. Mal…?"

"I've adapted to this modern world but phones still baffle me." Maleficent sighed. "Anyhow I'm inviting you for lunch?"

"Well, I have-"

"Bring Maddox along, of course."

"How did you-"

"Lily."

"Of course." Regina grimaced and tried to resist being so annoyed by the woman since Maleficent was her friend. But she had kidnapped Maddox. "I suppose lunch is fine then."

"221 Grimsby Street."

"What?" Regina frowned, pulling an expensive pen from the little girl's curious hands.

"Well, there's a surprise I have to show you."

Maddox leaned forward to grab the silver box that always sat at the corner of her desk. Only now was she realizing she actually had a five-year-old again. Henry used to touch and pick up everything. She pulled her hand away again and wrapped her arm around Maddox's waist to keep her pin against her chest and the girl giggled.

"We'll be there soon then." She replied after a pause and Maleficent chuckled at the obvious sounds of her monitoring a child in her office before hanging up. Regina sat the phone down and kissed Maddox's cheek, inciting a round of giggles as she tickled her sides.

"Must you touch everything you see, little one." The girl squealed, trying to get away from her hands.

Regina chuckled as Maddox laughed and squirmed, attempting to grab her wrists. "Stop it, Gina!"

* * *

Regina smoothed out her coat as Maddox rang the doorbell a few too many times. She tapped the top of her head and Maddox giggled mischievously and Regina grinned, shaking her head in amusement. The girl had become very excited to learn who they were visiting as Maddox just seemed to love new people. The exact opposite of how Regina felt about meeting people.

The door swung open, revealing the blonde woman. She smiled at them and Regina was surprised to see an actual smile from the woman who usually enjoyed intimidating smirk. She caught Maddox by surprise and the girl gasped and swiftly hid behind Regina, clutching her coat in a tight fist.

Maleficent noticed her and crouched down to be eye level with her. "Oh, now there is nothing to be scared of, little one." Maddox peeked around Regina flashing big brown eyes at her. "It's okay, darling. I don't bite. Let me see you, Princess."

Regina smiled softly and Maddox seemed intrigued by being called princess. The older brunette reached out and touched her hair to coax her out. The five-year-old grinned and stepped out from hiding. Maddox came over to her not shying away from the woman's hands on her shoulders.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing…" Maleficent chuckled. Maddox gave a shy smile and glanced up to Regina who was obviously agreeing. "What's your name, Princess?"

"Maddox."

"I'm Maleficent."

"Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. Why don't you two come inside?" Maleficent said and held out her hand to Maddox who took it with a smile.

Regina followed behind them and removed her coat to put on the hook as she closed the door behind them.

"I just might steal her from you." Maleficent teased watching Maddox tentatively explore the rooms.

"You have a daughter."

"And you have a son. So, it's a tossup. We'll see who she likes better." She chuckled as Regina rolled her eyes, going after Maddox for her coat. They disappeared into a room and the child soon came back out not seeming to notice Regina behind her trying to get her out of the coat.

"Do you has magic like Gina?" Maddox asked.

"Have." Regina corrected finally get the coat off and onto the hook next to her own.

"Yes, I do." Maleficent grinned. She whispered conspiratorial down to the girl as if it were a secret. "I'm a dragon."

Maddox gasped and smiled in excitement. "I wanna see!"

"Not today honey." Regina said.

Maleficent bent down to Maddox's level. "I'll let you know when I go for a fly." Maddox beamed when she winked. "Now, I have an offer for you. How about we set you up in the den and you can watch cartoons while me and mommy talk about boring grown up stuff?"

Regina looked nervous at the title of mommy. She wasn't sure if they had bonded enough for Maddox to think of her that way. But also it wasn't much of a surprise to her that Maddox really didn't think too much on it at all. If anything, she was only concerned about food and tv, much like Emma.

"She really is the cutest thing. I thought everyone had been exaggerating." Maleficent reappeared from the room, now noisy with cartoons. She gestured to towards the kitchen and Regina followed, taking a seat at the table.

"You can't exaggerate Maddox…" Regina paused. She straightened her back to distract from her slip.

"Mills?" The former queen looked up in surprise. The blonde turned to her with two glasses in her hand. She sat a pinked drink in front of her friend and took the seat across from her. "Haven't given it much thought I see."

"You just caught me off guard by the…"

"Mommy? Hasn't called you that yet, hm?" Regina opened her mouth to say something but she raised her hand. "It'll happen soon enough. It's very obvious you're more of a mother to her than she's ever had."

"I-"

"Now, on to more pressing matters." She sighed, looking over to the untouched glass in front of Regina. "Drink the sangria. You'll need it."

"For what?" The mayor questioned, picking up the glass and eyeing the liquid.

"We're not going to make conversation out of this. I'm going to tell you something and then you are going to say okay. Then we move on to something more important than that."

"I don't understand what's happening here."

"I made an agreement with Rumple. I retire dark magic in exchange for the safety of this town and my…family." Maleficent ignored the outrage on Regina's face as the brunette had obeyed her command to not say anything. "Think about this Regina. The guarantee the that your daughter with not be threatened by the presence of the Dark One. It's worth it."

"What does he have to gain?" Regina frowned.

"His Beauty's happiness."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Either way he must really mean it. It was a blood pact." Maleficent sensed Regina bristle at the information. "Just say okay."

"Fine." She sighed. "What else is there to talk about?"

"That picture in your coat pocket." Maleficent casually said as she took a drink from her glass but Regina froze.

"How did you know about that?"

"Miss Swan wouldn't have taken a picture she surely already has or doesn't want to be reminded of." The blonde watched Regina hesitantly pulled a glossy, wrinkled picture from her coat pocket and handed over. Maleficent met her eyes as the picture changed hands. She examined the young girls in the picture. "What excuse are you going with for why you took it?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because your longing is a tragedy. You know so much and not enough about Emma Swan. It's eating at you." Regina scoffed shaking her head. "You love her."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"This picture is a crutch Regina. You did it to be closer to her in the ways Lily is and now it's only here because you want it to tell you no." The woman across from her looked uncomfortable and anxious. "No, you can't have that woman that's always there beside you. You know _that woman_ could be yours but you need this picture to tell you _that girl_ could never forgive you. And you're holding on to that even though you don't know."

Regina leaned forward with a hard look in her eyes. "How would you know any of that, _if_ it were true?"

"You spent a year in my castle learning to be angry enough for darkness. I know of young, innocent Regina and then I know _you_."

"That's bullshit, Mal."

"Your heart isn't your greatest weakness, Regina Mills. It's your eyes."

"Bullshit." Regina repeated, snatching the picture away from her and hiding it back inside her coat. She downed the sangria in record time.

* * *

Emma let out a groan as she clutched her head, limping down the walkway. If it wasn't chasing mysterious plant vandals, it was cats out of trees. Vicious cats out of trees. Chasing Pongo into new, more dangerous parts of the woods.

If this was her life, with the occasional bad guy here and there, she was so thinking about working at Granny's from now on. Not that it would matter much, she'd still be the savior. But at least she could avoid getting cats out of trees.

She drove back to her parents' apartment and entered the quiet space with the goal of getting some aspirin and plopping face first into her bed.

"Emma, what happened?" Snow questioned when she walked through the door. Emma stopped her from going into a worried mom state. "Are you alright?"

"I just need some ice and aspirin and then a date with my bed."

"What happened this time?" David questioned. He walked over to her ignoring all of the silent protests and put a head under chin to look at the red bruise traveling from her forehead to temple. "It wasn't…?"

"No, not that. Cat up a tree." She muttered.

Snow came back over to them with an ice pack and he took it, gently pressing it to her head. Emma wanted to argue about it but it kind of felt nice to have them try to take care of her like that.

"You can always call the fire department yourself every time you get those phone calls." David suggested and slowly pulled his hand away so that she could take over.

"Thanks, Dad." Emma said. "Maybe I can find a magic way from Regina to automatically get those calls forwarded to them."

"Well, Regina can be a miracle worker sometimes."

Emma grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and kissed Neal's forehead as she headed for the stairs. "I'm going to knock out. Night guys." She called descending the stairs.

Snow and David exchanged a look with each other as dinner hadn't even been made yet and it was only 6:30. But no doubt she'd be up late.

"Save her some for midnight." Snow nodded moving to the kitchen.

Emma listened to the sounds of the kitchen from her bed after she'd taken four aspirins and consumed half that water bottle in only a few seconds. She laid back on the bed, holding the ice pack to the side of her face.

Honestly, she wouldn't have fell out of the tree if she hadn't been so distracted. Emma never really thought her love life this much but it was starting bother her more now than before considering she had come out to her parents, broke off her fake relationship with Hook, and ended her risky rendezvouses with Lily, now was the first time she's had real time to think about it after years of constant crisis interruption.

Being the savior was going fine. Her real life, however, was tragic.


	7. Chapter 7

The dragon was right.

Regina knew better than to expect anything less. Maleficent was her oldest friend and before she met Emma, her _only_ friend. She knew her too well for her liking. Maleficent was too observant.

Which was why Regina was now standing in the foyer, frowning into a mirror.

Her eyes were her greatest weakness?

Maleficent had spent the rest of that lunch talking about the longing in her eyes. Regina had moodily sipped through three Sangrias while the woman managed to read her aura without even looking at her. Then Maddox showed up to save her, requesting the two women pay attention to her.

Unfortunately, now Maddox was not present to force her away from the mirror to give voices to her stuffed animals.

In the middle of looking for all those emotions and feelings, the doorbell rang unexpectedly and Regina reluctantly turned away from the mirror to answer the door.

"Emma?" She glanced at the clock behind her and then turned back to the sheriff standing on her front porch.

"For you. Maddox's records."

"Thank you." Regina accepted the folder. "You're early. Not that I'm complaining..."

"Um, yeah...How early?" Emma asked, barely acknowledging her friend's presence.

"An hour. Are you okay?" She looked to the bandaid stuck on her temple and the near invisible cut at the corner of her lip. "Did you get in a fight?"

"No." The blonde sighed. She held up the six pack of beer to show her. "I need a drinking buddy. Please?"

"Okay. Sure." Regina agreed, opening the door wider for her to come in. The blonde slipped inside and headed for the kitchen with Regina right behind her.

Emma slumped down into a stool and opened the beer, resisting her habit of popping the top using the edge of the counter. Regina had threatened to take off her thumbs if she kept putting dents in the marble. Though, the former queen was becoming less and less immediately because of Maddox, it still worked.

Regina checked on dinner in the oven before turning to Emma. She leaned back against the counter and folded her arms over her chest. "Okay Henry has a project to work on and he'll be back in an hour. Maddox is with your father and Neal because he mention the park and that child won't let me say no."

"Of course not. She's cute." Emma grinned, taking a sip from her beer.

Regina tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. You know the...coming out to my parents thing...and the Hook thing?" She nodded, having figured out those things over six months ago. "Well, add casual sex with Lily to the list of things..."

"Of?" Regina asked, waiting for the appropriate moment to circle back to the Lily thing. That was a new thing for her. Well, not new. She suspected there had been something going on with them but now Emma was confirming it finally.

"I'm a mess and my life is a mess. I felt fine before we left and then we came back and I feel like I don't have..."

"Control?"

"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. It's something. What do I do?"

"Are you doing what you want? Is this casual relationship something that's making you happy?"

"It's not terrible but I'm happy, I guess. You guys make me happy. Maddox and Henry. My brother. My parents. You, my best friend. I'm happy with that."

"I think you answered your own question then." Regina grinned.

"What?"

"You're happy with us. So, Emma Swan, be happy with us and take your time with relationships because you're free to do that now. It doesn't have to be rash. You can think about who you want and what you want from them."

The front door opened and closed in the distance preventing Emma from questioning that.

"Hey, moms." Henry called. He appeared in the doorway, watching his mother pull lasagna out of the oven. He came over to the island and draped an arm over Emma's shoulders. "You're here early, Ma."

"So are you." She smirked. "You're supposed to be back at 6:30."

"Finished up faster than I expected." He shrugged. He glanced around and noticed there wasn't a lot of noise in the house. "Hey, mom, where's Maddox?"

"With David at the park. They should be back soon."

"Okay, cool." He looked over to his blonde mother. "You want to play some video games before dinner?"

Emma frowned down into her drink before looking up. Regina turned over her shoulder to give the blonde a look. She nodded and Emma took a deep breath and finished off her beer. She hopped up from the stool and ruffled Henry hair.

"Yep. Let's do it, kid." Regina watched them leave through the door with a small smile. "Call of Duty or Halo?"

"We'll see." Henry said. "Depends on which one I can beat you at?"

* * *

Regina kept her eyes on Maddox as they waited for the doctor. It was obvious to her that Maddox was a smart girl but it was a sight to see her reading a book. It was a children's book but she didn't ever recall hearing of children reading at five.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Emma, receiving a reply shortly after.

 ** _Uh, sure. Maddox is a smart kid. It's not unheard of. Are you worrying?_**

 _No. Of course not._

 ** _I know you are anyway but it's a good thing._**

"Mills?"

Regina looked up from the device, tucking it into her pocket. To her surprise, it wasn't Dr. Whale.

A blonde woman in a white coat with a clipboard approached them. She had eyes that were the perfect combination of blue and gray. A flawless smile to match. Regina blinked as she stood up from the plastic chairs with Maddox hopping up next to her with her own bright smile.

She cleared her throat, looking to the gold name plate on her coat. "Dr...Cameron?"

"Yes." The woman smiled and reached out to shake hands. "Spencer Cameron."

"Regina-"

"I know who you are, Mayor Mills." She chuckled. "I've heard great things about you. Seen plenty of heroism."

"Thank you." Regina pursed her lips together for a moment before looking down to Maddox. "Sweetheart, say hello to Dr. Cameron."

"Hi." Maddox greeted shyly.

"Hi there. I'm Cameron." Cameron smiled as she crouched down to Maddox's eye level. "You must be my new patient. What's your name?"

"Maddox."

"It's an honor to meet you."

"I like your shirt." Maddox said pointing to the blue scrubs she was wearing under her coat.

"Thank you. I really like cookies."

"I do, too."

Cameron smiled at her and then stood up to Regina. "So why don't we get started?"

"Of course." Regina nodded.

"Well, right this way, Miss Mills."

* * *

"Superheroes on the table please."

Regina grabbed Maddox and sat her on the table before backing away.

The blonde came to stand in front of Maddox and pulled a pen from her chest pocket. Regina watched the girl's smile light up the room. Curiously, she stepped aside to see the Captain America pen in her hand.

"Just a standard checkup, correct?"

"Whatever makes enrollment easier."

"Her shots are up to date. No prior illnesses." Regina was relieved to hear that. "We'll do the checkup. That's what most of the parents need."

"Well, let's go with that then." She agreed.

"Good. Okay, so, Maddox you're five?" The girl nodded. "That's the really cute and really bad age." Cameron chuckled, sitting down the clipboard. Maddox scrunched up her nose. "I said really cute, too. This is your prime."

"She does misbehave, though. Don't encourage it." Regina inserted as the doctor started to take her blood pressure. Her eyes shifted between Maddox, the doctor, and the numbers until the numbers stopped.

"So…?" Regina questioned in the silence.

"Blood pressure is great." She responded brightly, removing her stethoscope from her around her neck.

This had to be a cruel joke on her. Dr. Cameron wasn't supposed to exist. Not right now. Regina hated having a type. This woman was certainly it.

"Breathe in." Maddox obeyed, playfully puffing out her cheeks. "Breathe out."

The girl complied again without a problem.

Before they knew it, everything is all done and Maddox was giggling and smiled as if this was something most children thought was fun.

"All done, buddy." Maddox nodded with a smile on her face. The blonde doctor reached into her pocket and leaned down, clipping something to the girl's shirt. Then she stood up straight and carefully lifted Maddox off the table. "Thank you for being so great, Maddox."

Maddox turned to Regina. "Gina, look!"

Regina grinned while Maddox toyed with the pin. "Now you have something to tell Henry about." Regina said turning to Cameron. "You certainly have a gift."

"Thank you. I try to make them forget I'm the scary doctor."

"Well, you do a wonderful job, Dr. Cameron."

"Call me Spencer. Or Cameron...I prefer Cameron but whatever you like."

"Cameron." Regina nodded with a tight smile.

"So..." She reached into her pocket and flashed another pin. "I guess that's not your style. DC, huh?"

"That obvious?"

"A little." She shrugged. "Lot of pretty ladies in the DC universe. Wonder Woman."

"Fairly, obvious yourself, Captain Marvel." Regina smirked seeing the woman blush at the comment.

She cleared her throat, finishing up something on the clipboard before signing it down in the corner. She pulled the paper away from the clipboard and handed it to Regina. "For you."

"Thank you." Regina took the paper and looked up to meet gray eyes. "So she did well?"

"Perfect. Do you have any concerns?"

"Well, she's very…small."

"She is small but for her age, I wouldn't worry. She's fine how she is and the only time to be concerned is if she starts to lose weight."

"That's good to know."

"She's absolutely fine."

"Thank you…Cameron."

"Anytime." She stepped forward and held out a card. "Here's my card if you need anything else. Consider allowing me to be Maddox's regular physician."

"I think that'd be a good idea. I have a feeling I'll be here often with this one." Regina accepted the card.

"You know call me anytime…I mean, for work…" The blonde shook her head and sighed to herself. The brunette chuckled lightly. "I meant…if you need to schedule anything, or you have questions or concerns, or if you have anything…for me. That's…that's what I meant. Yeah..."

"I will." Regina nodded amusingly turning on her heel. "Have a nice day, Dr. Cameron."

"You too, Madame Mayor." She said watching Regina take Maddox's hand in her own and disappear from the doorway.

Cameron sighed to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. Almost as soon as Regina's heels disappeared down the hall, a familiar face popped up in the doorway.

"Don't." She warned.

"Real smooth, Dr. Spencer Cameron." Whale said clapping as he leaned on the door frame. "Awesome job."

"If I had a bedpan, I'd throw it at you."

* * *

The diner bell rang again for the seventh time within the last thirty minutes and Emma smiled amusingly at Ruby as she sighed. She turned to see who it was and smiled when she spotted Maddox pulling Regina towards the counter.

Regina picked the girl up and sat her in a stool and sat down between them. "You're here. Good."

"Did we schedule something?" Emma asked frowning in attempt to remember if that had skipped her mind from their texts.

"No, but I was coming to find you after I got Maddox ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Emma questioned, sipping her milkshake.

"She was angel for the doctor. So, she earned it."

Ruby came over to them and smiled at the girl next to Regina. "So, what will it be munchkin?"

"I want that." Maddox pointed to Emma's milkshake, which resulted in Emma giving a child like frown and tugging her milkshake towards her chest as if Maddox was trying to have that one. Regina and Ruby shared an amused smiled at Emma's antics as she sipped on the cold treat.

"I'll get right on that." Ruby winked at her before turning to get started on the shake. She glanced over her shoulder. "Coffee, Regina?"

"Yes. Thank you." Regina answered and looked back to Emma.

"So...you need to see me about something?"

"Well..." Ruby turned around with the coffee and the milkshake in her hands, skillfully sliding it in front of them. Regina turned and tucked the napkin into the top of Maddox's shirt, her hand grazing the Avenger's pin.

"Um, look I know I told you to leave relationships on the back burner but...well..." Regina sipped at her coffee, thinking back to the visit to the hospital. "We're friends..."

"Regina, you can tell me anything." Emma said, turning to face her. "My love life is on the back burner but that doesn't mean I can't try to help with yours."

"Alright...Maddox's doctor-"

"Whale?" Emma frowned.

"No. Dr. Cameron. Spencer Cameron."

"Never heard of him."

" _Her_. She works with children."

"A pediatrician?"

"Yes." Regina bit her bottom lip in thought. Maybe she was over thinking this. "She gave me her card."

"Okay..." Emma said slowly, grinning in amusement. "I don't get it."

"She was charming Maddox the entire time and then afterwards she gave me her card. I think she wants me to call her... _personally_."

"Did she say that?" Emma questioned looking into her glass.

"Not directly, no. She kind of stumbled through why she gave me the card after there was..." Regina trailed off, averting her eyes from Emma.

"Was?"

"Playful banter involving comic book universes. I think she may have been flirting with me."

"Maybe."

"I'm reading too much into this, aren't I? Of course, I am."

"No. You're not." Emma assured. "But Regina you can't actually consider that though."

"Why not?" Regina frowned. As much as she's tried to hide her disappointment, it still showed in her eyes and Emma felt guilty when she saw it.

"Because...she's Maddox's doctor. It's unethical...I think?"

"You think? Is it illegal in this world to pursue the doctor of your child?"

"Well, I don't think so. I mean-"

"I slept with a married man, Emma. I'm not proud of myself." Regina whispered. She was sure Maddox wouldn't understand but she still didn't want her to hear it. Maddox liked to ask questions. "A doctor, so long as she isn't married, can't be worse than that."

"You always use that one." Emma sighed. "Look, I know you can handle yourself but if something were to go bottom up in this relationship, guess who could get hurt. Not just you. Maddox."

"That makes sense." She looked over to Maddox who was in deep conversation with Ruby as she wiped down the counter. Her hand reached out and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm not trying to worry you. I'm sure she'd be fine."

"I appreciate the concern. I really do, Emma, but I don't want to be alone forever."

"Yeah, I know. If you think this will make you happy, then okay. Go for it, I guess."

"Okay." Regina nodded. "Maybe I'll call her, if I've interpreted the situation correctly. Thank you, Emma."

Emma nodded with a tight smile. She watched Regina tug the napkin from Maddox's shirt when the girl started licking her fingers. The brunette shook her head, accepting the clean towel Ruby handed to her. Maddox frowned and squirmed as her face was wiped clean of chocolate. Regina thanked Ruby while Maddox hopped down from the stool.

"I would honestly love to stay and talk but I have to get all that paperwork to the school." Regina said.

"It's fine."

"Well, um, call me later." Maddox was pulling on her sleeve, unsuccessfully attempting to move Regina out the door.

"Will do."

The sheriff smiled after them and when they left, her smile disappeared. She gritted her teeth and something shattered behind the counter and she turned to the broken mug. She closed her eyes in frustration.

"Sheriff Swan!" Granny shouted.

Emma grimaced with a sigh as Ruby laughed at her.

* * *

"Where's my little dragon?" Maleficent questioned, surprised that Regina just barged right in without Maddox tailing behind her. She closed the door behind her and watched as the woman put her coat on the hook.

"She's with Emma." Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "She insisted on being with Emma today."

"I see." The blonde said examining Regina's tense shoulders. "Well at this rate I might as well replace that cricket as the town therapist."

"I already have therapy. I don't need it right now." Regina sighed.

Her friend nodded her understanding. She gestured to the living room and Regina walked towards the door way without further instruction. Maleficent followed behind her taking a seat opposite Regina on the couch. "Shall we take this session with a drink?"

"That would be wise." Regina scoffed as she sat her purse down beside her. A glass of red wine appeared on the table in front of her. Maleficent grabbed the one in front of her and took a sip.

"Alright, darling. How bad is it?" She asked. Her eyes flickered to the brunette across from her taking a big drink of wine.

"Maddox's doctor, Dr. Cameron...she...I think she was flirting with me."

"And did you tell her you're not interested?"

"Not necessarily." Regina mumbled into her glass.

Maleficent frowned for a moment and cleared her throat, sitting back against the couch. "So, you entertained it? Invited the flirting?"

"I didn't do that either..." Regina shot up and started to anxiously pace with the glass clutched between her fingers. "Nevermind that. The main thing is that she gave me her number to call her."

"And?"

"What?" The brunette frowned in confusion. "I've never done this before. This has never happened to me before. Wait a moment, what happened to your insistence about me admitting things about Emma?"

"Regina, Emma Swan, is your _goal_. She's not ready for obvious reasons. Getting to her is journey."

"I've been through enough. Daniel..." Regina averted her eyes, voice growing softer, quieter. "You. And at some point, Robin."

"I still love you." Maleficent said with a small smile. "And because I do, I want you to be happy. Maybe seeing this woman will bring you some happiness."

"Doing this will just hurt her in the process. I'm dating this woman until it's appropriate for to go after Emma. That's a terrible thing to do."

"Appropriate, Regina? Honestly..." She scoffed. "If you two weren't both idiots, you'd maybe even be married now."

"That's my point. I'd be hurting Cameron."

"You don't know that. Maybe in the long run, you end up with Emma. Maybe you fall in love with Cameron. Emma Swan is not your soulmate. Not your True Love. You don't know what your future will be. But it will work itself out."

"How can you promise that?" Regina asked.

"I can't, darling."

"But what if I do this and in the end Emma ends up alone because I did fall in love with someone else."

"Other people do this all the time and all these what ifs do not stop them. You have to stop letting it get in your way. _You_ have to stop getting in your way."

"How?"

"Sit down and tell about this woman. Then you are going to call her because it's already been three days."

* * *

It was pretty simple. Pick up the phone. Dial the number.

Except it wasn't that simple.

Regina looked at the two items sitting on the coffee table in front of her. Mal had literally talk to her for hours earlier and she had no more courage or confidence now than she did three days ago. Maybe that was sign this wasn't meant to be. Cameron should just be Maddox's doctor and maybe if it's possible they could be friends.

But she was interested in her. The doctor was attractive and blonde. Cameron was interested. The only one in town who's shown any interest in her that she'd even noticed.

Finishing off her wine, Regina put the glass down and grabbed her phone with the card. She unlocked the device and dialed the number. Her thumb hovered over the green button but never touched it. She held the card in her hand and stared into the black lettering nervously.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Gina." Maddox called.

Regina glanced up to the doorway, spotting a little shadow coming towards her study. As Maddox approached, she pushed the home button and locked the phone screen. She hated to chicken out of it but Maddox was always a perfect reason to forget to do something.

"I'm in here." Regina smiled as Maddox appeared in the doorway. She was wearing white and purple pajamas with dinosaurs on them and hugging her bunny close. "You need something, honey?"

Maddox held up a brush in her other hand and gave a curious look to Regina. "Please?" She asked with a innocent smile.

"I'd love to, princess." She waved Maddox over and the five year old quickly came over without a second thought. Regina picked her up and placed her in her lap with a light grunt. "You're getting too big for this."

Regina chuckled noticing the girl was completely ignoring any mention of not being picked up. She took the brush and let out a contented sigh while she ran the brush gently through Maddox's long, brown hair. This was new for the both of them. Her mother never did this for her and Maddox was as close to a daughter she was going to get. And she hoped their relationship was heading that way.

"Do you like it here?" Regina quietly asked when Maddox leaned back into her chest, curling up into a little ball to get comfortable. "...With Henry? With me?"

"Yes." Maddox nodded. Regina tilted her head and examined the sleepy expression on her face. "I want to stay forever."

"I want you to stay forever, too." Regina replied, kissing her forehead.

"Pinkie promise? Emma says you can't break a pinkie promise." She murmured. Maddox held out her finger to Regina and the woman slowly reached out and wrapped her pinkie finger around hers.

"Emma is right." The brunette smiled. "Pinkie promise."


	8. Chapter 8

Mal sighed in disappointment as she stirred her coffee.

She expected to meet Regina in the diner and spend an entire hour watching the normally serious woman unknowingly blush as she talked about her conversation with Cameron. Unfortunately, despite once being the feared Evil Queen, the brunette was somehow far too nervous about having a conversation with someone she likes. It was a wonder how she even talked to Emma on a regular basis.

"Don't look at me like that."

Mal blinked, turning her eyes up to her friend's face from the spot on the table that was shiny in the diner's bright lighting. Regina's eyebrows were drawn together and her lips were pursed in uncertainty. The blonde raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not looking at you in any way." Mal brought the coffee to her lips and took a drink before she sat it down and placed her hands in her lap. "We've been sitting in silence for nearly twenty minutes."

"That's because you never said anything after I told you that I never called Cameron."

"I'm not exactly sure what to say, darling." She said taking another drink of coffee. "You once conquered kingdoms in a matter of days and now we're discussing how it is nearly impossible for you to go after what you want. There are two very attractive blonde women, one who seems to be interested in you and one that isn't too bright in the relationship department, and you can't even go after one of them."

"It just doesn't feel right. My heart wouldn't be in it." Regina said with a sigh.

"Regina, sweetheart, I'm not asking you to propose to this woman." Mal chuckled. "I'm telling you to ask her on a date. Simple as that."

The older woman rolled her eyes at Regina's uneasy expression.

"Here you are trying to give me relationship advice…you're not even seeing anyone." Regina said smugly as if she'd gotten the upper hand. But then she squinted suspiciously and took an almost shy voice. "Are you…seeing anyone?"

"Honey, I told you to ask Dr. Cameron out, not me."

"You know what I mean." The brunette huffed.

"Wouldn't you like to know…" Mal smirked. Regina knew that look and it forced a sigh out of her mouth. She'd be really pissed if her friend was already seeing someone. The dragon turned her eyes to the door as a few people came into the diner for the lunch rush.

Regina frowned and looked over her shoulder, immediately spotting Aurora and Mulan with baby Nathan. It still never made sense to her why the warrior would continue to torture herself by still holding to her vow to protect Aurora and Phillip when she was in love with the woman. She glanced from Mal back to them again, noticing that Aurora gave a small wave to Maleficent and Mulan gave a stiff nod.

"What did you do?" Regina questioned. "And how…?"

"I didn't do anything, dear." Mal said. "I've been mending burnt bridges. I have no interest in having enemies and I certainly care not for any more schemes. I'm getting my life in order."

"The Charmings?"

"I'm working my way there. Now enough of that…" Regina narrowed her eyes. Mal waved a finger over Regina's shoulder. "Here's your chance."

"Wha-" Regina froze spotting topic of their earlier conversation. Cameron was waiting in line, probably for a quick cup of coffee. She turned back and shook her head. "No…I'm not…I can't."

"Stop being pathetic. You were a queen, Regina. You still are." Mal shooed her from the table but the brunette was reluctant to get up. "Go conquer…or don't come back."

Regina stood up and wiping her palms against the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress. She looked back to Mal and was given a raised eyebrow. With a resigned sigh, Regina buttoned the leather over her shoulders and walked forward.

"Hard not to see you coming a mile away." Cameron grinned, looking up from her phone. "How are you?"

"Fine. Good."

"That's good. Maddox? Still adorable?"

"Yes, and very much a handful."

"As expected." Cameron nodded. "Were you getting in line? You could cut in front of me."

"Oh, no. But thank you. I actually was…I'm sorry…your number-"

"Don't apologize. I'm not usually the one to initiate things. I was being a little bold. I understand."

"No, it's not that. I wasn't being honest with myself and I lost my nerve, which rarely happens." Regina looked up from her hands to Cameron's curious expression. "Would you like to go on a date?"

"I…You…" The blonde stopped herself with a chuckle and nodded. "Yes. I'd love to."

"Dinner? Maybe Friday at 8?"

"Perfect." Cameron smiled.

* * *

"He's either dating Lily or Tinkerbell." Emma said out loud with a suspiciously furrowed brow with a beer bottle between her fingers.

"It's gotta be…right, Regina? Regina?"

"Yes, absolutely." The brunette responded as she pulled a pan from the oven. Emma leaned up in her seat to see what was cooking. The older woman hadn't said a word about what dinner was supposed to be tonight. She seemed more distracted than she usually was.

"You're not even listening to me." She frowned, sitting the beer back down on the counter. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing. I've just been thinking."

"About what? Maddox's first day?"

"No, not that."

"Um, I don't know what else is wrong. Is it me?" Emma guessed with a guilty smile.

"No." Regina sighed. "Can you get me the square plates?"

"Sure." Emma got up and retrieved four black and gray plates down from the cabinet. Regina was a serious chef in the kitchen. Her plating had to be perfect so she lined the plates up on the island. "Is it the kids?"

"No. They're fine."

"Well-"

"I have date." Regina interrupted. Emma stopped her movements, looking caught in the headlights.

"You…you're going out? With someone?"

"Don't sound so shocked."

"No, not…it's just that I didn't know you were interested in someone. We've both kind of been too busy to talk about that kind of stuff. Um, congratulations." Emma leaned against the counter with her arms folded. "Who's the lucky townie?"

"Spencer Cameron."

"The doctor lady?" Emma questioned.

Regina gave an amused grin and nodded. "Yes, the doctor lady."

"So, she asked you out?"

"No, quite the opposite. I asked her and she said yes."

Emma gave a tight smile that Regina didn't seem to notice as she worried more about dinner. She dropped back down into her chair and tried to come up with something to say. They were really close friends so it was normal to talk more about the news but Emma had no clue what to say.

Luckily, Regina was too nervous about the whole endeavor to want to talk about it and spoke before her friend could form a reply to her previous statement.

"Emma, can you get Henry and Maddox and have them set the table?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, sure." Emma nodded and stood up again, shoving her hands in her back pockets as she went in search of the kids.

They were no doubt reading comic books and Emma would probably have to ask Henry if he got to finish his homework before Maddox came barging in, demanding to be read to. She was too adorable to say no to which made it obvious their son was putty in the little girl's hands.

"Alright, kiddos." She leaned against the doorframe to Henry's room. As she suspected, Henry's textbooks were scattered over the bed, shoved away due to Maddox's comic needs. "Dinner time."

They both looked up from the Iron Man pages and Maddox hopped off the bed, bouncing in excitement as she hurried over to Emma. She threw herself at Emma and the blonde moved to catch her causing Henry to snort at her surprise.

"Hey, you're getting too big for this." Emma poked her stomach, inciting a giggle. "You're going to throw my back out."

"You're not that old, Ma." Henry chuckled as he shook his head. He walked by them and headed down the stairs with the pair following behind.

"I guess that's supposed to be a compliment." Emma muttered acting as if Maddox wasn't raking her little hands through her hair in fascination. "And you definitely need to wash your hands or you're going to be eating blonde hair for dinner."

"No, I'm not." Maddox said with a scrunched nose and a smile.

Emma plucked a strand of hair floating around the girl's hand and held it up to her.

"See, look at that. You wanna eat that?"

"No!" Maddox yelled, laughing and squirming.

"Then let's go wash your hands, you little monkey." Emma teased tickling her sides but careful not to lose her grip on Maddox.

* * *

Dinner was a success as Regina guessed. Henry and Emma weren't very picky but Maddox needed some coaxing with her green vegetables. Although, this time with a chicken roulade any green was hidden inside and Emma helpfully cut it into pieces and positioned it to where Maddox wouldn't even see it. Even with the potatoes, she needed to have ketchup but Regina was just happy she cleaned her plate.

With a clothes basket under her arm, she stood in the hallway watching as Maddox squealed and giggled while Emma poured water on her hair to wash out the shampoo. They were making good time to get the girl into bed to be ready for her first day tomorrow morning.

Regina smiled at the pair. Emma was lifting her out of the tub, wrapping her in a fuzzy yellow towel with ducks on it.

"We're almost done, Regina." Emma announced walking out of the bathroom, meeting her in the middle of the hallway. "Just need to get dry and into some clothes."

The former queen turned her eyes away from them and pulled out a small stack of clothes for Maddox. Emma took them with a grateful smile and looked to Maddox. "Hey, kiddo why don't you give Gina a kiss."

"Oh, no." Regina took a step back and Emma only moved forward. Maddox gave her that toothy grin she couldn't resist and leaned forward to plant a wet kiss on her cheek. She tried to look annoyed but couldn't even though the side of her face was now damp. "Thank you, honey."

"You're supposed to give one back, Regina." Emma smirked.

"You can get your kiss once you're dressed and ready for bed."

"Okay we're going."

"Hey, Mom." Henry called, just after Emma and Maddox disappeared into her room. "Do you know how to fix controllers?"

Regina raised an eyebrow at him, waving his controller. Pull out a toolbox to fix a door hinge one time and suddenly her son is shocked, and also always needing her to fix things. She shook her head and walked down to his room. Once she got to the doorway, she sat down the clothes basket and took the controller from his hand.

"What's wrong with it?" Regina asked. She knew nothing about video games or the devices that made them appear on the tv so she'd have to cheat and use magic if there was really something wrong with it.

"Every time I turn it on, it starts vibrating. Never stops. And the buttons at sticking."

"Well…" She frowned at the object and turned it over in her hand.

"Can I hit it with a hammer?" Henry questioned, almost sounded excited at the thought.

"No, you cannot." Emma inserted, taking the controller from Regina's hands. "I'll take care of this. Maddox wants a goodnight kiss. Immediately."

Regina shook her head affectionately and left Emma to figure out Henry's problem. She walked down the hallway to Maddox's room and found the five year old tucked into bed with her bunny next.

"I suppose you've done what I asked." Regina chuckled. Maddox nodded vigorously in return. She came over and sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. The girl yawned right after and her eyes were already heavy. "I think it's time for bed."

"'kay." Maddox mumbled as Regina pulled the blankets up a little higher.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." The older brunette said, kissing the top of her head and turning out the lamp.

"Night, Gina."

She smiled and closed the door only enough so that the hall light didn't shine too bright through the opening.

"All done?" Emma asked, appearing from Henry's room that now was filled with the sounds of his shooting games.

"Yes. Thank you for your help." Regina sighed in relief.

"No problem." The blonde shrugged. She shoved her hands in her pockets, finding something interesting in her friend's expression. "You're thinking again. Nervous about school?"

"Of course, I am. She's only five and I'm sending her off to the first grade." Emma nodded her agree that it was a bit scary. "But I always have a dozen things on my mind. Especially when it comes to Maddox."

"Don't worry. She's going to be six in November anyway. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I hope so. It's not like I don't already worry about how she likes things here…and…"

"What do you mean?"

"How she's adjusting. You saw for yourself that she was previously adopted by a gay couple."

"Yeah so?"

"So, I don't know if it'll affect anything that she doesn't have…I'm wondering how strange it might be for her to have a mother. Surely, she's seen it and I'm guessing the foster system didn't just leave her in the hands of that man without him being married to someone but the experience might be foreign to her. She had two fathers."

"And Henry has us and he didn't lose his mind when he met Neal." Emma chuckled and shook her head. "Regina, Maddox loves it here. She loves you. I don't think it matters if there are two men or two women. I know from experience that kids just want to be somewhere with people who love and care for them. You're doing just fine by yourself."

"I'm not really alone in this like before with Henry. You've done just as much as I have."

"I'm just helping out." Emma argued. She followed Regina down the stairs.

"You've done much more than that. I'm just worried."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, technically, I'm the second parent."

* * *

"Are you nervous?" Regina asked as they neared the elementary school. Maddox walked beside her, clutching her hand a little tight. She looked down to the girl who stayed had been strangely quiet. At least she didn't look petrified but she didn't look too excited, which was a world of difference from when they were back home.

Maddox was ready to pick out clothes and she didn't do a bad job. Although she was actually debating wearing to different shoes that didn't match and Regina was a stickler for looking nice, so she wasn't having that. The girl wanted to wear a blue and pink polo shirt and khaki cargo pants because she loved having so many pockets. That was all fine. Regina would let Maddox dress like a boy, a girl, whatever she wanted but the consideration of wearing a yellow shoe and a red shoe wasn't going to work.

After convincing her to wear a pair of matching shoes, Maddox had still been fine. She was excited to use her backpack that she insisted look exactly like Henry's Marvel backpack. She was completely animated throughout breakfast but now she was quiet.

"Maddox?" Regina looked around the school yard at the mothers and fathers waving to their children. She turned to the little girl and knelt down in from of her, placing her hand on Maddox's hip to get her attention. "What's wrong?"

Maddox shook her head.

"Use your words. Tell me what's wrong."

"I don't wanna go." Maddox pouted folding her arms across her chest.

"Why not?" Regina pulled her arms apart and gently grabbed her chin to guide her eyes back to hers. "Why don't you want to go? You were excited to go this morning."

"I don't wanna go anymore."

"I got that part, sweetheart. But why?"

"Can you come with me? Please?"

"Oh…" Regina sighed. She pulled Maddox forward, kissing her forehead and hugging her. Maddox didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around Regina's neck. "It's okay to be a little nervous. I can't go with you but I know you can do it. It'll be fun."

Maddox pulled away leaving her arms slightly around Regina and gave her a skeptical look and the woman chuckled.

"I promise it will. I'll see you after school and you're going to be excited to go back again tomorrow. You're going to make new friends and you're going to do a lot of coloring. Don't you want to make me more pictures?"

The five-year-old nodded shyly.

"I'm going to be here as soon as school is over. "

"Promise?"

"Pinkie promise." Regina held out her finger. Although instead of taking it, Maddox hugged her around the neck again. Regina smiled slightly and hugged her back. The same happened with Henry plenty of times and it felt really nice to have the experience again.

"Love you, Gina." Maddox mumbled into her shoulder.

The former queen froze in surprise, letting out a soft gasp. She didn't know if it was just in the heat of the moment but she appreciated the sentiment more than the child would know. She tightened her arms around the girl and she whispered, "I love you, too, Maddox."

The bell rung behind Regina and they let go reluctantly. The girl still looked unsure about the whole school thing but when one of the teachers and a little boy with bleach blonde hair came over to them, Regina turned Maddox around to face them.

"Nice to meet you, Mayor Mills." He held out his hand and Regina took it. "I'm Jason Carr. I'll be Maddox's teacher."

"Pleasure to meet you." Regina gave a tight smile and looked down to Maddox. "Maddox this is your teacher."

He was a really tall man so it was a bit comical to see the girl crane her neck up to look at him. Maddox scrunched up her nose but shook his hand anyway.

"I took some time to look over your schedule and it seems that Alex here is in class with you most of the day. So he'll be your buddy this week to help you settle in at school."

"Hi." Maddox said almost sounding wary.

The boy didn't even notice though and just smiled widely at her. "You wanna be friends?"

In very Regina like manner, Maddox looked over to the older woman with a raised eyebrow. Regina grinned in amusement and nodded her head in encouragement.

"Okay." The girl replied.

"Cool." Alex said excitedly.

Regina watched Mr. Carr and the two children disappear into the building and then suddenly she was the one with the anxiety about Maddox leaving her but she wasn't going to worry about it. She'd be fine.

* * *

Regina leaned back to look out the doorway of the bathroom when she heard the door to her room open and close. Her eyes were met with Emma laid out on her bed in the laziest fashion. She shook her head and stepped away from the sink, dropping her toothbrush into the porcelain cup and leaving out.

"You certainly look ready to babysit." Regina smirked. Emma gave her a thumbs up and let her hand drop to the bed with a thump. "Are you going to be awake enough to do this?"

"Maddox is already in bed, so I'll survive." Emma said. She turned over on her side and propped her head up in her open palm. "I can just go to bed now."

"I'd rather you not do that."

"Henry is old enough to babysit."

"Maddox is only five years old." Regina said sounding as if she had suggested something completely insane.

"Your son, _our_ son is a teenager. He can cook better than me and there's no minimum legal age in Maine so he's more qualified to babysit me and Maddox."

"Emma-"

"I've been up since 3 am. I'm crashing…"

Regina glanced to the blonde and could see the tiredness painted all over her face. "I could've called Maleficent."

"I'll stay awake. It's fine."

"No, Emma…handle it however you feel is best." Regina disappeared into her closet and flipped on the light.

Emma laid down on her back again with a groan. She looked to the mirror and noticed Regina's reflection in it. The brunette pulled off her shirt and stepped out of her pants, leaving curves and lace on display. Emma quickly averted her eyes from the mirror exhaling deeply with a furrowed brow.

"So, how was your week? School going okay with Maddox?"

"Of course, I told you she wanted me to go with her or she wasn't going." Regina chuckled. It's been an emotional week for her. Ever since the first 'I love you', the five-year-old had been melting her heart all over again. "But I think she's really enjoying it."

"How about that kid? Allen?"

"Alex." Regina corrected. Emma gave a quick glance over to the mirror again, though this time the muscles of her back were showing under the unzipped part of her dress. "Maddox informed me earlier today that they are now best friends forever."

"Kids are cute…" She replied distractedly, cutting her eyes to anywhere else in the room. She could hear the sound of Regina's shoes against the floor. "Any easier to let her go every morning?"

"Not at all." Regina sighed. She ran a finger across the array of lipsticks she had and plucked out a shiny, gold tube and started to apply it. "Do you mind?"

"Huh?" Emma sat up tiredly, reluctant to look at the other woman.

"The zipper."

"Yeah sure." Green eyes fell to the exposed skin again, and she was becoming confused on why it was so hard not to look. Emma bobbed her head and stood up from the bed, moving behind Regina. She reached for the zipper and tentatively rested her other hand on Regina's waist. "You could've used your magic."

"I've managed to go all week without using magic. I actually feel accomplished. It's your son's fault."

"Oh he's just my son now?" Emma grinned playfully as she pulled the zipper all the way to the end of the dress, watching Regina put on a pair of diamond earrings.

"Sometimes." Regina said, checking the time on the clock over the door of the closet. She slipped away from Emma's hands to grab her purse and her phone. "Are you sure you're okay to do this? You do look tired."

"I'm okay. Henry was half asleep on his desk when I checked in so it might be an early night for everybody."

"I don't plan on being out all night but feel free to take the guest room."

"You know I will. My eyelids feel like fifty-pound weights." She shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "But don't worry about us. Enjoy your date."

"Thank you." Regina grinned before she left the doorway, and then suddenly the butterflies started.


	9. Chapter 9

"Mom?" Henry questioned.

He and Maddox finally made it down the stairs after ten minutes of convincing her to wear matching shoes. No one could figure out what it was but she was always insistent about it. They found Regina leaning against the sink with a cup of coffee in her hands.

She was completely zoned out. Her mind had quickly drifted off to the night before. It was a real date and though at the time the date she had with Robin had felt perfect, the one she'd had with Cameron blew it out of the water. Regina was sure it was because lately, it had felt like she'd been living a normal life. A life that people outside of Storybrooke were living.

 _"I'm guessing motherhood is your favorite pastime activity?" Cameron grinned as Regina took a sip from her wine._

 _Regina tucked some hair behind her ear and blushing, "Is it that obvious I spend all my time with my children?"_

 _"Not obvious but somehow we've had a very beautiful conversation about your daughter for the last fifteen minutes."_

 _"I'm sorry," Regina sighed, "It's almost like having a new baby. It's exciting and I can't seem to stop thinking about her. I'm worried and anxious…"_

 _"Don't be sorry. I adore Maddox. She has personality."_

 _"Children typically aren't great first date conversation starters," Regina said._

 _"Well, if it wasn't for Maddox we wouldn't have met."_

"Mom?"

Regina blinked out of her memory and looked to her two children waiting for a response. She set her coffee down next to the sink and smiled at them. Henry scrunched up his nose as she kissed his cheek and Maddox eagerly accepted her kiss.

"Good morning, love bug," Regina said with a smile and Maddox flashed her teeth with a bigger smile. She picked Maddox up and put her in the chair. "Time for breakfast, Henry?"

"Sure," the teen shrugged, "Where's Ma?"

"Somewhere. Hopefull getting ready for work," Regina smirked. She grabbed a plate and handed it to him and pulled down another for Maddox, "I forced her out of bed 30 minutes ago but she could've gone back to sleep."

"She'll be late for work," he laughed.

"I'm sure her boss won't let her live it down."

"Gina?" Maddox called in the middle of their teasing.

"Yes, sweetheart."

"I want juice, please," Maddox answered.

"Oh, look…a child with manners," Regina teased. Henry rolled his eyes as he sat down in the chair next to Maddox. The little girl looked at his plate and then turned her head back to Regina with impatience in her eyes.

"I need an alarm clock," Emma's voice chimed as she came through the doorway while she put on her jacket. When she entered the room, everyone could smell the hot shower she just took. A strong wave of vanilla overpowered even the smell of coffee.

"Soak in the soap, Ma?" Henry questioned, with a slight frown.

"No."

Emma lifted her arm to take a sniff. Maddox frowned at her but was immediately distracted when Regina finally gave her breakfast.

"Good morning, Sheriff," she greeted as Emma walked over to the counter make herself some coffee. She looked to be in a hurry.

"Morning," she mumbled before taking a semi-cautious drink of her coffee. Still burned her tongue anyway. The blonde flinched and Henry snickered at her. "Now everything is going to taste like tires all day. I gotta go."

She moved around the island and kissed the top of Henry's head and snuck a kiss to Maddox's cheek, causing the five-year-old to giggle. Emma turned to Regina and gave her a quick hug to the older woman's surprise. It lasted a few seconds and then Emma was heading towards the door, leaving Regina suddenly feeling cold at the absence of her embrace but she pushed the thought away.

"I will return this," Emma said lifting the coffee mug, "Thanks for letting me stay over. By the way, those two were total demons last night. All over the place."

"Nice try, Ma. I have plans this weekend."

"Oh, plans, huh? We'll see about that," she said, playfully. The teen stuck his tongue out at her and she did the same. "Be good for your Mom. See you at lunch, Regina."

No one got a chance to say anything to her before the front door was opening and closing.

Henry furrowed his brow and looked to his brunette mother, "She's in hurry to be on time for once and you're really happy. Today is weird."

"It's not weird," Regina said.

"It is with Ma at least," he said, "But you're just happy because you went on a date last night. So, Dr. Cameron is nice?"

"She is," Regina nodded, "She's good company."

"Mhm," Henry said with a raised eyebrow when Regina turned her back to them.

He knew some things she didn't.

* * *

Regina took another glance at her skittish secretary before she finally pushed through the door to her office. The younger woman was a bit jumpy...well, jumpier than she usually was. Instead of worrying about it Regina just shook her head and started thinking about the meeting she had for today.

"Hello, darling."

The mayor jumped as the doorknob left her hand causing the door to close firmly. She bristled as she turned around slowly to find Maleficent sitting at her desk with her feet propped up on the surface. There was a big bouquet of flowers at the edge of her desk and Regina turned her eyes to the card in Maleficent's hand.

"I thought we established we weren't exceeding the boundaries of a normal friendship," Regina stated while she hung up her coat, "Now you're bringing me flowers?"

"Yes, well..." Maleficent sighed, "After realizing some things, I've found myself quite enamored by the thought of having you all to myself. Will you allow me to seduce you once more?"

Regina stopped in her tracks, halting feet away from her desk. The admission surprised her. If anything she expected herself to not be over the past they had but Maleficent?

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, watching with widened eyes a Maleficent stood up from her chair and walked towards her with the card in hand. Regina didn't know what to say. Of course, she wasn't opposed to such a relationship with her. Anything that would keep Maleficent in her life was appealing to her but this was the same woman who wanted her to pursue Dr. Cameron...romantically.

Maleficent came behind her and held the card out. Then she leaned forward lips impossibly close to her ear. Regina shivered, still stunned. Maleficent whispered, "Oh how I do love making you squirm."

All tension left Regina's body instantly the moment she heard her friend start laughing. Her face fell into a frown and she rolled her eyes, taking loaded steps towards her desk with every intention of ignoring the woman.

Once she noticed that Regina had that annoyed and frustrated look on her face, she ceased her laughing and sauntered over to her. She stayed on the opposite side of the desk and held the card out to the younger woman. Regina cut her eyes at the object as she loudly typed out an email.

"The flowers aren't from me, dear," Maleficent said, rolling her eyes, "They're from your girlfriend."

Regina averted her eyes from her computer screen. She purposely ignored the smirk on her friend's face as she took the card from her hand. She read the card and then sighed with a small smile.

"She seems sweet."

"The flowers...cliche and corny but she is."

"I'm guessing that means you'll be seeing her again, yes?"

Regina looked up from placing the card on her desk and raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "I may..." she said before narrowing her eyes, "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Delivering an invitation."

"For?"

"Shopping."

"Shopping?" Regina frowned, turning eyes back to her email, "Clothes shopping?"

"Yes. Lily refused...said she had plans." The brunette lifted her eyes as Maleficent sat down in the seat across from her, "I haven't known her too long but I'm sure she usually doesn't have plans."

"Maybe you should look into befriending the Charmings. They have plenty of experience raising their adult child...or not raising...I don't know."

"Will you attend?"

"You don't _attend_ shopping sprees, Mal, but yes I will go with you..." Regina paused in thought, "Only if you tell me who you've been seeing."

"No one."

"Then I'm not going."

"Regina-"

"Mayor Mills," her secretary called through the intercom, "The council has arrived."

"Thank you. Show them to conference room three. I'll be out in a moment," Regina replied.

Maleficent watched Regina collect a few things from her desk and start making her way towards the door. She turned her head, eyes following the woman all the way to the door. "Regina, what about-" Maleficent started.

The younger woman lifted a finger to her and said, "I'll go with you to shop for your date...only if you tell me who it is. Simple as that."

* * *

"You know what?" Emma shook her head. "I quit."

David looked down at her as she spoke and then back up to what both had them annoyed and frustrated. A bit confused as well. The longer they stared the more it didn't make sense.

"And leave me to deal with this? I think not."

"Well, I'm stumped. This is bullshit."

"Should I be surprised by this or...is this something normal that happens when you're working, Swan?" Hook asked as he walked over to them. "A tree? Or lack thereof...?"

David nodded to no one in particular and then put his hands on his hips, "I'm going to go have a sandwich."

Emma frowned at him as he started to turn away. She threw her hands up in the air with a groan. "Dad? Seriously?"

"You got this Emma." David waved over his shoulder and left to his cruiser.

"So..." Killian started, "What-"

"I don't even want to talk about it," Emma said with a sigh. "Can you take pictures of this? I gotta go talk to the neighbors or something..."

"No one knows what happened?"

"Look, I'm still confused on the fact that a whole oak tree is gone and nobody heard anything."

"Magic?" Killian asked.

"I'm looking into it," Emma said with a shrug.

"Have you talked to Regina?"

"No..."

"I think you know where to start your investigation, Swan."

"Just take the damn pictures, smartass."

* * *

It wasn't unusual for the mayor to be sleepless some nights so when she found herself awake at 1 am, she didn't bat an eyelash about it and helped herself to finish the 12th page of her crossword book. It crossed her mind to bother Spencer during her night shift since they hadn't talked since their date three days ago but she settled for the crossword. Thursday nights were busy at the hospital for some reason.

Although while doing the crossword, it turned out her world either revolved around Emma or fairytales more than she was willing to admit. One of her words happened to be in relation to Emma actually.

 _'Ugly duckling, as it turned out'_

She sighed to herself and wrote in the sheriff's last name. She didn't loathe Emma but her books were supposed to be her escape. Immediately after she considered just reading a book because her next one was just as bad.

 _'Evil queen's offering to Snow White'_

"Who wrote this damn thing?" She growled to herself, closing the book and sitting it down on her nightstand. She huffed, took her glasses off, and folded her arms across her chest before pressing her back into her pillows.

She pushed her the sheets away and got up to leave her room. Pulling on her silk robe, she walked to the door with the intention of going downstairs for a glass of cider. She made it halfway down the hall with quiet steps but was stopped the sound of crying. She turned on her heel and hurried over to Maddox's room.

Regina pushed the door open and found the girl sitting up in her bed, fists balled up at her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. Her beloved bunny was tossed to the floor and Regina picked it up.

"Maddox," Regina said softly moving over to the bed and sitting down on the edge. She slowly reached out and Maddox jumped from her touch. Her hiccups and sniffs continued as Regina pulled into her lap. Without warning, Maddox turned to her scrambling closer into her body.

"Mommy," she cried in between a hiccup.

Regina froze and looked down at the child. She was upset and partially asleep. It was a surprise she wasn't sure how to handle. This was different than it was with Henry. He'd been calling her mommy since he'd first learned to talk but Maddox had parents before her and maybe it was too soon to start with the titles after over two months. This late at night was no time to debate it so smiled shortly down at Maddox before placing her hand against her back.

With the bunny still in her hand, she wrapped her arms around Maddox and hugged her close.

"Mommy," she heard again.

"It's okay. I'm here," Regina cooed softly into her hair.

Regina stood up, holding Maddox to her chest, and started to sway slowly. Instinctively, Maddox wrapped her legs around Regina's waist and laid her head on her shoulder. The woman didn't miss a beat, continuing to rock her and tucked the bunny between them. Then she used her free hand to rub soothing circles into her back.

"You're okay," she whispered.

She walked around the room swaying lightly and whispering assurances into Maddox's ear. The little brunette started to calm down slowly, beginning to open her eyes to the dim lights around her bedroom. Regina watched the two trains quietly race around her room and turned in a circle to watch them.

After ten minutes of silence as the crying stopped, leaving behind small trembles and sniffling, Regina tilted her head slightly so it rested lightly on Maddox's. The younger of the pair began to fall back asleep clinging to Regina.

"Shh," Regina whispered hearing a few murmurs and incoherent noises as the girl fell back asleep, "Everything is okay. You're safe."

Once she was sure Maddox was asleep she turned the lights out in the room and walked them back down to her own room. Going through this with Henry taught her to just get the inevitable over with now rather than later. If she left her back in her bed there'd probably be another outbreak of nightmares again that night and they'd both get very little sleep. At least that what she got from her first child. She laid down on her side of the bed and rubbed her back for a little longer before putting Maddox down on her back in the empty space next to her.

She turned the light out and moved to her side to keep an eye on Maddox until she eventually fell asleep herself.

* * *

The next morning, Regina woke up to giggles and curly brown hair tickling her face. Maddox was hovering over her with a toothy smile. The five-year-old leaned forward and pressed her palms into Regina's cheeks before putting their foreheads together.

"What are you doing, silly?" Regina asked with a smile.

"I want pancakes," Maddox responded, "Chocolate pancakes."

"If you get ready for school without problems, I'll make you some pancakes." Regina wrapped her arm around Maddox to steady her as she sat up. Maddox dropped her hands into her lap and Regina kissed her nose. "Do we have a deal?"

Maddox nodded and then grabbed her bunny, hugging it close to her chest as she started to make her way off the bed. She paused for a moment and turned back to Regina. She got up on her knees and planted a kiss on her cheek before hopping off the bed. Regina followed suit and got out of bed silencing her alarm minutes before it was set to ring.

After thirty minutes Regina was finishing up her lipstick in the vanity mirror while Maddox sat on the bed slowly tying her shoes. Once they were both officially ready, they went down to the kitchen so Regina could make good on her promise of making pancakes. Henry made his way down the stairs just as she was pouring the pancakes into a pan.

"Morning, Mom," Henry said, dropping the strap of his bag on the back of a stool.

"Good morning, Henry," Regina greeted in return.

Maddox offered him a little wave and he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Morning, Maddox." He smiled at her and went to the cabinet for two cups. Regina finished up breakfast while Henry occupied Maddox with some orange juice and comic book talk.

Just before the bus was set to arrive, Henry was cleaning up the island counter. He brought his plate and Maddox's to the sink. He glanced back to Maddox and then over to his mother, "Hey, mom?"

"Yes?"

Henry leaned close to her and whispered, "Figure out a theme for her party yet?"

"Honestly she keeps jumping between liking pirates and dragons, I'm not sure if I'll get it right."

"I was thinking maybe you could make it a storybook theme." Regina raised an eyebrow at him. "My storybook, so then you can do dragons and pirates. I think she'd like it. Maleficent and Lily are dragons. Killian's a pirate. And you know Maddox loves Ma. She makes her play savior all the time."

"That is true."

"Everyone could dress up as themselves. Ma and Grandpa could be knights...Maddox could be the princess."

"Have I told you, you're a genius lately?" Regina smiled.

"Not really," Henry said with a smirk.

"Well, you're a genius, my prince."

"I know."

* * *

Usually, David got all the traffic stops but for once Emma clocked someone going 30 over the speed limit...right through a red light. She was leaning to take a bite of her sandwich when the car flew by the cruiser. It was so sudden, she nearly dropped her lunch.

"What the hell..." Emma put her lunch in the passenger's seat and turned on the siren as she drove after them.

Just before the next traffic light, the car pulled over. Emma got out, hand itching to write about forty tickets, and walked up to the car. It was a black 1972 Delta 88. She was kind of jealous. It was in perfect condition. Putting that aside she walked up to the driver's side and knocked on the window. A man in sunglasses turned to her as he rolled down the window.

"Is there a problem, Sheriff?" He asked with a hint of a smug grin on his face.

"Problem?" Emma scoffed. "Are you kidding? You were going 65. In case you haven't noticed, this isn't a city freeway."

Her radio crackled to life at her hip before he could respond, "Swan. You need to get down to the park now."

She glanced at the driver and then took her radio and answered back, "Killian, what's going on?"

"Just hurry," he replied and then the static went silent.

Emma frowned and then sighed to herself. She wrote the man a ticket and he took it without batting an eyelash, still with a smug look, "If I catch you again, you can say goodbye to this ride and your driver's license," Emma warned.

The man tipped his hat and pulled off.

Emma walked back to her car, turning to look back at the Delta driving away. He looked familiar but she'd never seen him in town before. She forgot about it and got into the cruiser to make her way to the park.

Three minutes later, she was at the park entrance with a suspicious look on her face. Killian could've been joking around but he was beginning to take the deputy job seriously. So, Emma continued down the walkway until she spotted the pirate and another familiar face.

"Killian? Lily?"

"Emma, oh good. You're here," Lily said in relief, "It's really fucking weird."

"What is?"

"That." Killian tilted his head deeper into the park. Emma had seen worried-looking parents shooing their kids out of the park and standing by. Now she knew why.

A kid and a bat. A teenager, obviously, but it was clear why Killian called her out. He was walking back and forth in front on a bench, swinging the bat lightly in his hand. Probably the most concerning thing was the ski mask. Her father could be at the station getting calls left and right.

Taking a breath, she started towards the teen but a hand latched onto her forearm before she could get far. Killian looked at her with a furrowed brow and said, "Be careful, Swan."

"I'll be fine," Emma assured. The pair exchanged glances and she purposely ignored them as she walked forward. Her movement incited a few gasps as if she wasn't one of the very few who willing went head first into danger.

"Look, kid, I don't know what kind of joke this is supposed to be but this is a public disturbance. I can hold you for it," Emma stated with her usual confidence. It usually worked on most teens attempting to throw rocks at the mayor's office windows or spray painting the diner.

However, when he looked at her with fluorescent blue eyes, Emma stepped back defensively. His hood was up causing enough shadow to hid most of his face. The bat suddenly stopped swinging in his hand as he turned to face her completely.

"What the hell...?" Emma murmured to herself. The blonde quickly took a step back as he started to walk towards her. Her hand fell to her holster instinctively. "Stay where you are."

Her demands fell on deaf ears and she started to stumble back, away from his overly confident steps.

"I won't tell you again…quit moving." He continued on. "Back off."

She raised her hand, going for her magic instead. But Emma was caught off guard when the teen disappeared in a blink and was standing in front of her suddenly. Before she could react, he took her wrist sharply and all Emma heard was a crack, followed but searing pain. An involuntary scream left her throat, cut off when the teen used his other hand to clamp down on her neck.

He leaned in close to her, his face still obscured from her vision and said, "He sends you this warning, Savior."

Emma's eyes widened just before he let go of her wrist and a blast of magic forced her backward into the newly built jungle gym a dozen yards behind her. Her body hit part of the frame with a crack and she dropped to the ground like a rock. Then the boy disappeared.

"Emma!" Lily's voice was muddled in Emma's head. She slowly opened her eyes when someone pulled her up. Lily was hovering over her with a concerned look on her face. "Emma, talk to me."

No response followed as Emma fell unconscious.


	10. Chapter 10

"Dr. Cameron."

"Yes?" Cameron asked not looking up from her paperwork that was supposed to be finished an hour ago.

"You're needed in the ER. Dr. Whale is already with a patient."

"I'll be there shortly."

The redhead looked at her anxiously before saying, "It's the sheriff. I think it can't wait."

She looked up from her papers with a furrowed brow. She dropped her pen and made her way to the door. The nurse moved quickly, leading her to the ER in record time. Her day had been going pretty well until then.

"Sheriff Swan?" Cameron asked aloud as she approached the partially unconscious woman mumbling incoherently. "What happened?"

"She was…um…" Killian frowned trying describe what had transpired at the park.

Lily pushed his hand down and finished for him, "She was attacked."

Cameron nodded and pulled out her pen light and grabbed the other blonde's chin, shining it in her eyes. Emma jerked away from the light almost immediately and Cameron put the light away and waved her hand over Emma's eyes. There was little to just about no reaction and that was cause for concern.

"Sheriff," Cameron called to the blonde. Emma turned to her slowly before her eyes traveled elsewhere. The doctor put a finger in front of the woman and watched her eyes follow for only a few short moments before turning to something else. "Emma, do you know where you are?"

"Story…Storybrooke," the savior answered slowly.

"Can you tell me where in Storybrooke are you?"

There was a pause and Lily and Killian look worriedly between the doctor and their friend.

"No…" Emma eventually answered.

Cameron sighed and nodded to the nurses across from her before she looked back down at her and asked, "Does anything hurt?"

"My…" she began and the paused. She looked up at Cameron and asked, "Where am I?"

"Miss Swan, please focus. What-"

"Regina," Emma mumbled, her eyes slipping closed again.

"Keep her awake if you can. I want her alert during the CT scan," Cameron ordered and the nurses complied silently, pulling Emma away. They talked to her and asked questions as they left the hallway.

Cameron watched them go, glancing down at her pager.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lily asked from behind her. She turned around to them and looked between their concerned faces.

"I can't tell you for sure right now."

"What? Why not?"

"That's very reassuring," Killian sneered.

"I understand that you want to hear something good, but I cannot lie to you. I may be a pediatrician, but I know how to be just as straightforward with adults as I can be gentle with children. I have no guarantees for you right now."

"If anything happens to her…" Killian started, pointing a finger in the woman's face.

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Jones?" Cameron questioned calmly.

Lily stepped up next to him and pulled his hand down. "No, he's not. We just want to know that she'll be okay."

"I'll let you know when I'm certain myself." Lily nodded her understanding. "Do you know of any injuries she might have gotten before you brought her here."

"Her wrist. It's broken. You could hear it snap from yards away."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah. That and her hitting her head. She was tossed like doll."

"Thank you. That was very helpful. For the time being, I think you should probably notify her family that she's here," Cameron said and at their silent agreement she tried to give her best reassuring smile before she left to start examining the savior.

* * *

Henry glanced at his mother a few times noticing that she was really walking on clouds. He hadn't heard too much about Cameron from her but Maddox was her biggest fan. When his mother talked to Cameron she smiled. And it was smile he never saw her give when she was with Robin. It seemed to be a smile she reserved for Cameron…and definitely Emma, too.

"Sooo...mom," Henry started to say. Regina looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. He couldn't help but laugh. "Don't look so terrified. It's just a question."

"Alright…"

"I just wanted to know about Spencer."

"What about her?" Regina asked, suspiciously.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't call her that. We haven't known each other that long."

"But you like her?" Henry asked with a smug grin.

"I…" Regina huffed in frustration. "Yes, I enjoy her company."

"Why do you have to be so you when you answer questions?" He groaned much to his mother's confusion. "Just say you like her."

"Okay, fine. Yes, I like Dr. Cameron."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"You are just like your mother." Regina grinned at him fondly all while rolling her eyes.

"Well, I am her son, too. But I'll take that as a compliment."

Just as they stopped at the school, the bell rung, and all the children practically poured out the door on their way to the bus or to their parents. Henry noticed the other parents looking in his direction, their eyes drifting over to his mother.

He'd noticed a while ago that some of the other moms seemed to stare with unreadable expressions. His mother never took note of them though and he wanted to keep it that way since she really enjoyed picking Maddox up from school. If she suspected something, she might just feel like her presence would make it hard for Maddox to make friends.

Henry looked away from them and spotted Maddox saying goodbye to her new best friend, Reed. She hurried over to them excitedly. Once she was close enough, she hugged him around the legs.

"Hey, squirt," Henry greeted, as he always did, and hugged her back.

She pulled away and turned to Regina, quickly hugging her as well. Regina picked her up to hug her back, kissing her forehead. "Hello, my princess," Regina said with a smile, "How was your day?"

"It was good," Maddox said. Henry and Regina started their walk back to Granny's since Henry had gotten an A on his science project. There was celebratory ice cream to be had. "Me and Reed were first today."

"First for what?" Henry asked.

"To finish their work," Regina answered. Then she addressed Maddox again. "Did you do everything right? It's not about finishing first, it's about making sure you have the correct answer."

"We got stars," Maddox said proudly. She pulled away the left side of her coat to reveal a gold star on her shirt.

"Oh well, excuse me. I must have forgotten how smart you are."

Henry snickered at them.

"Gina," she whined playfully.

Their conversation was interrupted by Regina's phone. She carefully shifted Maddox onto her right so she could get the device. When she looked at it, it wasn't a number she recognized.

"Regina Mills," she answered. Henry watched her expression turn sour and her eyes narrowed. "How did you get this number, pirate?"

"Swan gave it to me. Now listen."

Her brow scrunched up even more as he continued. Henry became curious, but his mother only grew frustrated.

"Slow down…" Regina held the phone with her shoulder and put Maddox down on her feet. She didn't even look down when the girl immediately pushed her hand into hers, but Regina closed her fingers around the small hand instinctively. "What are you talking about?"

"Emma was attacked. She's here at the hospital. Dr. Cameron told me to call her family."

Regina didn't hear the rest of what he said. She pulled the phone away from her ear and leaned down to talk to Maddox. "I'm going to use magic now, okay, sweetheart?" she asked. That only made the child excited.

"Are you going to poof?" Maddox questioned with a big smile.

"Yes, I am. So, I need you to hold tight." Maddox nodded with a determined look in her eyes. She released the woman's hand then wrapped her arms around her tightly. Henry easily hooked his arm around his mother's.

"Mom what's going on?" he asked just as they were engulfed in smoke.

* * *

David jumped when the trio appeared next to him. He and Snow had been talking to Killian and Lily. The conversation died when Regina arrived with Henry and Maddox locked around her. Maddox was happy about the magic, but the teen looked concerned.

"Mom, what's going on?" He asked.

"I would like to know myself," Regina said looking from the Charmings over to Lily and Killian.

"Emma was injured in an altercation with a young man in the park," Snow said, careful not to make Henry freak out too much.

"Altercation? With who?" Regina questioned. "Is she alright?"

"She will be."

Everyone look over Regina's shoulder and she turned around at the sound of Cameron's voice. It looked like she'd just got finished working _on_ someone from the surgical mask around her neck. The only assuring thing was that there was no blood showing anywhere.

"Did you operate on my mom?" Henry asked, frowning even more than his mother.

"Cameron?"

"Sheriff Swan is my patient, yes," she said, "And no an operation was not needed."

"So, what's wrong?" Regina asked.

"Well, I've done some tests because I was concerned there might have been some severe head trauma."

"Good news first, then, love," Killian stated.

"Well the good news is that her brain is just fine. The bad news is that she has suffered a concussion. She also has a broken wrist which can easily be fixed with cooperation and rest." Cameron's eyes drifted over to Regina. The look she was giving, had Regina guessing that Emma was probably not too open to assistance at the time. "I want to keep her overnight to monitor her symptoms and see what I find out during the observation period."

"But she'll be alright?" Regina asked.

Cameron glanced at the people around her before she reached out and touched Regina's arm to reassure her. "Your sheriff is going to be fine," she said with a small smile. "She's on some heavy medication so you can visit with her, but she needs rest."

"Thank you, Cameron," Regina said as Henry left to go visit with his other mother.

"Of course."

"Hi, Spencer." Maddox waved at her.

The blonde waved back, finding it amusing she'd managed to trick David into picking her up. Regina shook her head at the girl and took her from his arms, letting him accompany Snow to see Emma.

Maddox was in her embrace for less than a second before she launched herself at the doctor.

"Maddox," Regina exclaimed.

"It's okay," Cameron said and then looked at Maddox who was grinning widely. "How are you Avenger?"

"Good," Maddox replied.

"That's awesome. How's school?"

"Really good. I have a best friend now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep and his name is Reed. He's really funny and he has red hair like a fire."

"He sounds like a great best friend." Maddox nodded her agreement, interrupted by Cameron's pager and then the intercom.

" _Dr. Cameron to Pediatrics. Dr. Cameron to Pediatrics._ "

"Looks like I have to go back to work, Avenger," Cameron informed the girl. "I'll see you later okay. Maybe Regina can take us for ice cream?"

"Gina, please?" Maddox begged.

"I'll consider it," Regina said, taking Maddox's hand when Cameron put her door.

"I hope that means yes," the blonde said. She paused for a moment and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "I'll see you around."

"I suppose so."

"That's what I like to hear," Cameron said as she left down the hallway.

"She's so your girlfriend." Henry snickered from behind her. Regina rolled her eyes at him. "Ma wants to see you."

"Thank you, Henry," Regina said. She looked down to Maddox and then back to Henry. "Can you keep an eye on-"

"Way ahead of you, mom," Henry smirked, pulling his wallet from his pocket. "How about some candy, Maddox?"

At the excited look on Maddox's face, Regina narrowed her eyes at Henry. "Not too much," she called after them only to hear Henry laugh.

* * *

Regina closed the door behind her, pulling her gloves off as she approached the blonde in bed. Emma groaned momentarily from the bright like that shined from the hallway. Regina sighed and sat down in the chair beside the bed, shaking her head at the Sheriff.

"I swear I had to lock you up in a cell at the station to keep you out of trouble," Regina said. Emma only seemed to find it amusing and giggled at the suggestion. The brunette wiped her hand across her face and shook her head. "How much medication did they did they give you?"

"This many," Emma said holding up five fingers on her good hand.

"A lot, I see." Regina looked over Emma but other than the purple bruise forming at her hairline and the cast on her wrist, she seemed okay. "How are you feeling, Emma?"

"I feel amazing, Gina. You should have some, too. You're always stressed out."

"Trust me the last thing anyone needs is for me to have a liter of morphine pumping through my blood. Now, I need you to tell me what happened. Who hurt you?"

Emma chuckled, "My dad is the Sheriff now, not you."

"I want to find out who did this to you. They hurt you and they could hurt someone else."

"You're just worried because you care about me. You really like me."

"Both facts that you were aware of before now, Miss Swan." Regina noticed the blonde's eyes were drooping and she had no intentions of hindering any rest Emma needed but she wanted some kind of lead on the person who had the balls to attack her in broad daylight. "Emma-"

"You're really pretty," Emma stated with a dopey smile.

"Oh…" She felt the blush on her cheeks making her entire body warm but instead of trying to hide it, she figured Emma wouldn't remember by tomorrow. If she didn't remember anything, it'd probably only be the embarrassing stuff she said.

"Thank you, Emma," she murmured, averting her eyes from the other woman. The door to the room opened before either of them could say anything.

"Sorry to interrupt," a nurse stated, poking her head inside.

"She needs her rest. Yes, of course." Regina nodded and stood up from the chair as the nurse left with the door still cracked. The mayor looked back at Emma seemingly drifting off. "I'll be back in the morning, Emma."

"Bye, Regina," Emma mumbled. Regina grinned down at her for a moment before turning to leave. "Love you."

That stopped Regina in her tracks and she hadn't even made it too far from the head of the bed. Her heart thudded in her chest as she repeated her exact words in her head a few times. Emma was obviously high, but it was genuine in every way. She turned back around to the younger woman finding her pretty much asleep and glanced at the door. Once she confirmed no one was lingering around, she leaned down and softly kissed the savior's forehead.

She straightened herself back up and started for the door but quietly replied, "I love you, too."

* * *

"Regina?" Maleficent looked at the younger woman, confused about her presence at such a late hour. "Is something wrong?"

"Sort of," Regina admitted. "Can I come in?"

"Of course."

She stepped aside and closed the door behind her, casting a suspicious look out to the street beyond her yard. Regina glanced into the kitchen noticing the light on. Maleficent walked by her into the room.

"Nightcap?" Maleficent asked.

"Am I interrupting something?" Regina questioned.

"No. Why do you ask?" She brought up her question again holding up a bottle. Regina nodded.

"Who is it?" Regina sat down at the table, watching her friend pour them a glass of amber liquid. She placed one tumbler in front of Regina and sat down across from her.

"Who's who?"

"The person you've been sleeping with."

"I don't-"

Footsteps on the stairs cut Maleficent off and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Regina waited in anticipation to see who her friend had been hiding all this time. She refused to give even a small hint about who this mysterious person was. Honestly, she had no guesses.

Although it was quite the surprise to see Mulan walking down the stairs brandishing her sword. Her defensive stance slacked, and her eyes stuck to Regina who was staring at her in equal surprise.

"Darling, please put the sword away," Maleficent said with a raised eyebrow, "You can join us. Unless it's something…"

Regina eventually looked away as Mulan disappeared to put the sword away. "Mulan? That's who you're seeing?" She asked. "Really, Mal?"

"I knew you be surprised but-"

"I have nothing bad to say about it. I'm just…she's your type?"

"Sure."

"Sure?"

"I enjoy her company and she tolerates me."

"You're sleeping with each other."

"Literally, yes. On occasion." Maleficent grinned over her tumbler as Mulan reappeared. "She snores."

"I do not," the guardian argued, taking a seat in the other empty chair at the table.

"We'll debate that another time. For now, Regina has a problem and we're going to solve it." Maleficent pushed her tumbler over to Mulan. "Regina?"

The woman blinked and cleared her throat. "Right. Emma was attacked."

"I heard. How is she?"

"She'll be fine, but I want to know who attacked her. Someone used magic. It wasn't me."

"I can assure you I didn't do it."

"I know. Gold was reluctant to speak to me, but he swore he had nothing to do with it. He also didn't want to be helpful."

"And...?" Maleficent questioned.

"With Emma unavailable, I'm a little understaffed. The station needs to be manned and I-"

"Need my magical expertise. Just like old times." Mulan gave her a pointed look. "Minus the sinister plots."


	11. Chapter 11

"Are you okay?" Cameron questioned sitting down across from the older woman. She pushed a glass of water over to her.

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired," Regina said taking the drink to her lips.

"Something keep you up?"

"Well…" Regina swallowed the drink of water and sat the glass back down with her hands clasped around it. What wasn't keeping her up? "Well, Maddox has been having nightmares. Almost every night since Emma was attacked."

"But she wasn't there, right?"

"No. It could be completely unrelated. It was just something I noticed."

"Something tells me that's not the only thing, though," Cameron said, "At least not now. Emma is going to be fine, I just want to make sure her concussion isn't more severe."

"I know but someone attacked her. That's just unusual for most villains we get in Storybrooke. I don't want to think too much about what that could mean." Cameron nodded her understanding. Regina watched her chew thoughtfully before something occurred to her, "You know you didn't have to get us both salads right?"

"Yes, I know that. If you eat like a rabbit, I can eat like a rabbit too." Cameron shrugged and Regina pursed her lips. "Believe it or not, I eat more salad than you could imagine. No real cooking involved."

"You're a good cook."

"But I'm lazy," the blonde laughed. Regina raised an eyebrow at her. "I work a lot and I don't feel like cooking very often."

"You live alone." Regina pushed her salad around her plate.

"Uh, well yeah. No pets. I had turtle once for like three months but I didn't know the proper way to clean a fish tank, so I think I poisoned it." The mayor looked up from her plate and gave her a look. "Look I'd never owned anything that went in a tank before."

"You killed it?"

"Regina!" Cameron grimaced at the woman and Regina smirked back. "I've never trusted myself with a pet since then. I thought about a puppy once though. They seem fun."

"And a lot of work."

"Yeah, I know." She nodded, resting her hands in her lap. "I'm really dedicated to my job so I didn't think it'd be a good idea. Puppies are like babies, you can't half-ass it and expect everything to go smoothly."

"You make a good point. But aren't you…"

"Lonely? Not really. I spend a lot of time working remember? I'm around people all the time and when I am alone, I enjoy it. Being alone doesn't make you lonely. At least I'd like to think I'm not the only one who feels that way."

Regina looked at her deeply and smiled, "I've never thought about it that way."

"It all depends on the person. Most people can't stand being alone. It's a social thing. Most realms have societies where if you're not surrounded by people then you don't matter. I think it's a very odd way to live but I didn't make the rules."

"What do you mean?" Regina questioned.

"I have one friend. I've never really 'dated' anyone my entire life. You'd be my first girlfriend. I'm an only child and my parents died a year before the curse was cast…"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Cameron." The doctor grinned gratefully and took her hand from across the table. Regina smiled softly and intertwined their fingers, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles.

"I miss my parents but haven't felt lonely before. I don't know if that's unnatural but I just don't mind being alone. It not like I don't have anything to do and when I don't, I have you."

"I'm flattered." Regina chuckled.

"No need to worry about me, Wonder Woman. Although, I will never be opposed to you coming to see me." Cameron smiled back. "So, what else do you need to know about me? Long walks on the beach and dancing in the rain…"

"Anything other than those two things."

* * *

As Regina walked down the hall with Maddox in tow to Emma's room, she came up on harsh whispers between the Charmings and Lily and Killian. Before they could reach the group Regina caught a wisp of blonde hair in the corner of her eye. She turned and saw Cameron laughing with a nurse about something on her scrubs. They had puppies on them and she chuckled lightly to herself.

She turned her attention back to the four and walked over to them. She cleared her throat and interrupted their argument. All eyes fell on the them and Maddox got real excited to see David. Regina let go of her hand and she skipped over to him. David picked her up without a thought.

"What's going on?"

"Your lady friend is going to release Emma from the hospital," Killian answered. Regina grimaced at him for mentioning Cameron as more than an acquaintance in front of the Charmings. She had managed to avoid them saying anything last time.

It was just her luck that Snow looked at her in surprise and said, "Regina? You have a lady friend? Is that who Dr. Cameron is?"

"Oh god ..." Regina sighed.

"Her name's Spencer," Maddox said much to Regina's displeasure.

"The Doctor?" Lily questioned. She glanced at the woman still talking with another nurse. "I'm impressed."

"We are not here to talk about who I chose to spend my time with. It is my business, not yours. We're here about Emma."

"Is everything okay here?" Cameron asked coming up to the group.

Regina held back another sigh and shook her head. Everyone looked at the woman with knowing smirks on their faces. Cameron looked around and felt a blush crawling up her neck at their stares. She spared a glance at Regina who was pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"We're talking about Emma. Maybe you could tell me why they're arguing," Regina said and her soft tone didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

"I had informed them that Emma could be discharged soon but she needs a lot of bed rest and a lot of quiet time. I recommend a stress free environment."

"Obviously, the Charmings aren't the best suited to host," Lily said.

"We disagree. She's _our_ daughter," Snow said like it was only and best excuse.

"You also have a son," Regina said, "Who can keep even the heaviest sleeper wide awake."

"Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend that," Cameron said.

"Which is exactly why we said…" Killian gestured between himself and Lily. "She should stay with Regina."

"Exactly." Cameron nodded and then paused as the words processed through her brain. "What?"

"Other than the Charmings' apartment where else does she spend her time?"

"Well…"

"I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea. Maddox isn't as rowdy as she appears." Regina look before she looked over to Cameron to verify that her home would be a safe place for Emma to rest and recover. "Does that work?"

"Should be fine," Cameron replied tightly, nodding.

"I guess it's settled then," David said not sounding as disappointed as everyone expected. Snow didn't look devastated either. "When can she leave?"

"I'd give it one more night. She'd had a vomiting episode today and it's to be expected but I'm just taking precaution."

"Vomiting?" Lily frowned.

"A concussion like hers and overall body trauma does take its toll," Cameron answered, "She should have had many more injuries than that from the attack you described. She's lucky."

"Can we see Emma?" Maddox asked.

"Actually she's resting right now. She was due for her medication an hour ago."

"We'll come back and see her before she has to leave." Snow looked over to Regina, "Bring a bag with Emma's things in it for you?"

"That'll be fine," Regina nodded her agreement. Cameron glanced down at her pager and sighed.

"I have to go check on another patient," she whispered to Regina. The brunette gave her soft smile and nodded. "I'll call you later."

"Sounds good." Then leaned into each other, Regina kissing her on the cheek completely forgetting the audience they had.

Cameron smiled at her before turning to leave lightly touching Maddox's arm as she left, "See ya later, Avenger."

"Bye Spencer," Maddox waved, not noticing the stares everyone was giving the woman and Regina as if they just shared a steamy kiss right there outside of Emma's room. Lily whistled and the Charmings and Killian just smirked at her. Regina rolled her eyes at them, taking Maddox from David's arms.

* * *

The station was deserted when Regina arrived. The emptiness of the building was concerning. Her first thought was that whoever attacked Emma had swept through Storybrooke's law enforcement and fled.

Although that theory was defused when she heard rattling coming from inside Emma's office. The blinds were all closed so she made her way to the open door cautiously. The moment she was close enough a familiar feeling appeared. Magic.

Mulan was sitting on the edge of Emma's desk frowning down at the Rubik's cube in her hands. Regina raised her eyebrows at her before catching sight of Mal sitting in one of the visitor's chairs.

"Nice of you to join us, Mayor Mills," Mal said.

"What are you doing here? And where the hell is my staff?" Regina asked.

"I told them to take an hour to patrol the town."

"Patrol the town? The station gets phone calls."

"Only one has come in so far. I had Mulan answer it. Just a cat in a tree situation. She handled it quite well." She leaned in Regina's direction shielding her mouth from being seen by Mulan. "If I'm honest the poor thing needs a job to occupy her time. With no ogres around to fight she's dreadfully bored."

"I can still hear you," Mulan said twisting the cube a few more times.

Regina glanced between them and then snatched the cube from Mulan's hands, placing it back on the desk where she was used to seeing it. The other woman gave her a look momentarily before she sighed and looked at Maleficent.

"What are you doing here?"

"We did what you asked," Mulan replied.

"And?"

"We went back to where Emma was attacked," Mal said, "There wasn't much to find …except one thing."

Maleficent held up a vial between her fingers. Regina took from her hands, a spark of discomfort shooting down her back. At her furrowed brow, Maleficent watched another shiver travel down Regina's spine. She exchanged a look with Mulan who then gently pried the vial from Regina's fingers.

"Breathe," Maleficent instructed.

"What was that?"

"What was left of someone's magical essence."

"I've felt that before," Regina said, leaning against Emma's desk. "I just don't know where."

"Judging by how powerful just this remnant of magic is, this person is very dangerous and obviously their intentions are not good."

"So, what?"

"I'm no detective, Regina. All they've done is attack Emma and barely left anything behind."

"If neither of you knows what's going on it sounds like we're screwed," Mulan said.

"Indeed. Let us know when you need us, Regina." Maleficent stood up from the chair and Mulan slipped off the desk.

"If I do, it won't be good."

* * *

"Ugh." Emma groaned as she sat up in the bed. "Oh god…"

"Easy, Em," Lily said. The sheriff groaned again as she opened her eyes. "How do you feel?"

"A little better." Her friend nodded her understanding and reached over to her with a cup of water in hand. Emma took it with a grateful smile. She handed it back after a few sips.

"Be honest, Emma. Are you really ready to go home? You still look a little sick."

"I always feel like I'm about to throw up my liver but I've been fine."

"Good to hear but why don't you just let Regina heal you?"

"It's not that I don't trust her, it's just that neither one of us thought it was best to try magic with broken bones and head injuries."

"Yeah, I get that. Maybe…my mom knows something?"

"It's okay, Lily. I think it's best I ride this one out. Maybe by then I'll learn my lesson about not calling for back up."

"Em, you didn't know."

"Yeah, I know but I just want to figure out what the hell happened back there. I've never had that happen before."

"It was pretty crazy. Regina contracted my mom and her girlfriend to look into it."

"Girlfriend?" Emma scratched at her cast again with a sigh. "Who's your mom's girlfriend?"

"Mulan."

"Really?" Emma laughed. "How does that feel?"

"Shut up." Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't hate her so I don't mind the idea as much as I want to."

"These family trees are going to be interesting."

"Good news," David said coming in the room. "You're free to go, Emma."

"Dad?" Emma questioned. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't tell her?" Her father looked to Lily and the younger woman shrugged.

"I was getting around to it," Lily said rolling her eyes and leaning down to retrieve the bag she'd brought with her. She dropped the duffle bag on the edge of the bed and Emma gave her a questioningly look. "You're being discharged."

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"So this means you hadn't told her about the decision we all made yesterday?" David questioned again, folding his arms across his chest.

"What decision?" Emma frowned at the both of them still too injured to be able to decipher their code speak.

"Why don't you tell her?" Lily argued, standing up from her chair. She leaned down and kissed Emma's temple. "I have a prior arrangement anyway. Love you…see you later."

"Bye…I guess," the blonde responded in confusion.

"Pops," Lily said in passing to David as she left the room.

David looked surprised and then frowned before he turned to Emma. "Did she just call me Pops?"

"Yeah she did," Emma chuckled.

"There's always something when I'm in the same room with the both of you," he said shaking his head as he sat down in the chair Lily was just in.

"She doesn't have anything against you, honestly. Lily is just like that. Funny."

"Kind of fast change of mind, isn't it?"

"Yeah but…we've talked about it some, she's working through everything pretty well. We've had our fights over some things but everything is working out. Especially with Maleficent here. It's doing her wonders."

"I'm glad to hear that, Emma."

"Yeah. So, what's going on?"

"Oh right. Me and your mother decided that maybe it's best if you stayed with Regina for a while. Neal isn't the quietest and we know you're going to need rest and silence so it seemed like the best option."

"You guys agreed to that?"

"It was really Lily and Hook's idea. And then after Regina mention how Neal can be fairly loud and then Dr. Cameron recommended we not have you subjected to Neal constantly, we all agreed that Regina was the best option."

"Regina's okay with that?"

"Not even a single protest."

"Huh…"

"Were you expecting her to?"

"No, I just can't believe I slept through all of that."

"Unfortunately your brother doesn't," David sighed as Emma laughed.


End file.
